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Engraved between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago, these representations are by far the oldest known to-scale architectural plans recorded in human history, the team reported on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. They also highlight how carefully planned the desert kites may have been by the ancient peoples who relied on them. — The New York Times
The “desert kites” in question are essentially large-scale slaughter pen-type catchalls used to herd and kill wild animal herds in the prehistoric regions known today as the Levant and Central Asia. Researchers will soon display the plans, which are engraved in stone slabs, in a special... View full entry
A hidden corridor nine metres (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday. — Reuters
The discovery was made under the Scan Pyramids project, a program launched in 2015 that aims to explore and discover ancient Egyptian Pyramids using non-invasive and non-destructive techniques. The group, which includes Cairo University and the French Heritage Innovation Preservation (HIP)... View full entry
The chamber of architects has issued guidelines for its members working on projects close to Megalithic temples. “As professionals in the field of architecture and engineering, it is imperative that we approach the design and planning of development projects within the buffer zones of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with the utmost care and sensitivity,” the chamber said. — maltatoday
This is the first time Malta’s chamber of architects and civil engineers, Kamra tal-Periti (KTP) has introduced these types of rules for UNESCO buffer zones, areas around sites with legal and customary restrictions on their use and development to protect them. KTP’s directive lays out the... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Egyptian practice Raafat Miller Consulting (RMC) have been selected to reimagine the visitor experience for the popular sound and light show attraction at the site of the ancient Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza, Egypt. The pair were appointed by OSL... View full entry
“Trajan's Hollow” is a new book by Joshua G. Stein — founder of Radical Craft and co-director of the Data Clay Network — that sheds new light on the historic Trajan's Column, one of ancient Rome's great monuments that has been obsessively documented by archaeologists and historians... View full entry
A result of Yemen’s complex civil war – now in its fifth year – many of the country’s wonders have been damaged or are under threat. While the destruction pales in comparison to the human cost of the conflict, the country’s rich cultural heritage has also been ravaged. — The Guardian
Writing in The Guardian, author Bethan McKernan describes the ways in which Yemen’s ancient cultural heritage has been put at risk by the country’s tragic civil war. Sites that are under threat include the city of Shibam, a 1,700-year-old settlement built from a series of tall... View full entry
As a response to the race against time to preserve the world's ancient cultural heritage, The Getty recently announced an ambitious, $100 million initiative called “Ancient Worlds Now: A Future for the Past” that aims to promote a stronger understanding of global cultural heritage and its... View full entry
Since 1983, Iraq has lobbied to have Babylon, the "Mesopotamian metropolis," recognized as an official World Heritage Site. For three decades, Iraq persisted until finally, on July 5th, a committee met in Azerbaijan to vote for the city to be recognized by UNESCO. According to a piece in Al... View full entry
The mystery of how, exactly, the pyramids were built may have come a step closer to being unravelled after a team of archaeologists made a chance discovery in an ancient Egyptian quarry.
Scientists researching ancient inscriptions happened upon a ramp with stairways and a series of what they believe to be postholes, which suggest that the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought.
— The Guardian
The theory of ancient Egyptians using ramps to move the enormous stone blocks to build the Great Pyramids of Giza some 4,500 years ago has been around for a while, but this new discovery suggests the possibility of a significantly steeper ramp angle and shorter construction period than commonly... View full entry
At around 12,000 years old, Göbekli Tepe in south-east Turkey has been billed as the world’s oldest temple. It is many millennia older than Stonehenge or Egypt’s great pyramids, built in the pre-pottery Neolithic period before writing or the wheel. But should Göbekli Tepe, which became a Unesco World Heritage Site in July, also be regarded as the world’s oldest piece of architecture? — The Art Newspaper
T-shaped limestone pillars. Image: Wikipedia.Archaeological research of the ancient Göbekli Tepe ruin site in present-day Turkey suggests that the impressive monolithic structures, believed to date back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era (10th–8th millennium BCE), might in fact be the first... View full entry
It can be difficult to picture what ancient architecture would have looked back when it was first erected. Reconstructions by NeoMam and Thisisrender help you visualize what these ancient ruins looked like at the height of their glory. Take a look back in time and watch these historical... View full entry
In what’s being hailed as a “major breakthrough” in Maya archaeology, researchers have identified the ruins of more than 60,000 houses, palaces, elevated highways, and other human-made features that have been hidden for centuries under the jungles of northern Guatemala.
Using a revolutionary technology known as LiDAR (short for “Light Detection And Ranging”), scholars digitally removed the tree canopy from aerial images of the now-unpopulated landscape [...]
— National Geographic
Archaeologists believe they have found the key to unlocking a mystery almost as old as the Great Pyramid itself: Who built the structure and how were they able to transport two-ton blocks of stone to the ancient wonder more than 4,500 years ago? — Newsweek
The pyramid's stones were known to have been transported from over 500 miles away but archeologists did not agree on how ancient Egyptians achieved it . Recent discoveries suggest that the stones were transported using boats and a network of waterways leading to the site of the pyramid in Giza. View full entry
Built in the 14th century on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, the Kalø Castle ruins is one of the country's most iconic landmarks and tourist hotspots. But the medieval tower was largely inaccessible to the public, and lacked any internal structure for centuries. That all changed with a crafty... View full entry
Each generation likes to think it is unique, or at least living on the cutting-edge; but archaeologists have long known that history has a way of repeating itself. Although North America is often considered to be part of the "New World," inhabitations on this continent date back millennia. In this... View full entry
