The War on Syrian Antiquity Marches On

The battle on Syria’s ancient antiquity marches on. The mission: to save ancient artifacts and imperiled archaeological sites from profiteers, desperate civilians and fundamentalists who have plundered Syria’s rich artistic heritage to fund their war effort. Art history experts and excavators say the looting of Syrian ancient antiquity by the Islamic State has exploded in the last…

X-RAY VISION! Take A Look Inside Ancient Pieces of Art

ATTENTION HISTORY BUFFS AND ANCIENT ART-SEEKERS! Check out these photos from the Yancey Richardson Gallery x-ray vision exhibit. It was titled “History’s Shadow,” and presented an x-ray view of artifacts of the art world. This abstract exhibit came to us from renown photographer David Maisel. Maisel is well known for his aerial photo work that often explores landscapes…

Black History Month: Ancient Black Civilizations

In honor of Black History Month, we’d like to recognize some of the incredibly influential black civilizations of the past and all of their accomplishments. ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA Mesopotamia was the Biblical land of Sumer, which sprung up around 3000 B.C. After decrypting the cuneiform script of ancient Mesopotamia for many years, Henry Rawlinson (1810-1895) discovered that the founders…

Ancient Egypt: Make Your Own Cartouche

One way to learn about Ancient Egyptian culture is by studying its antiquity, jewelry and customs. One popular custom of this ancient society was the making of the cartouche. A cartouche is a kind of nameplate. Ancient Egyptians used cartouches for kings, queens, and other high-ranking people in the kingdom. A cartouche consists of a number of…

The Application of Knowledge: Ancient Technology

Some might think that high-end technology is relatively modern, and that the ancients lived in the dark ages in comparison, but the ancients were more technologically advanced than you think. The complexity of some of the amazing pieces of ancient technology shows us that the ancients were capable of intellectual and engineering feats that baffle…

The Exploration of the Antikythera

Described as the “Titanic of the ancient world”, the Antikythera shipwreck that was first discovered in 1900 could very well be the largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered. The crash site is located off the island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea, and it’s estimated that this ship was smashed against Pinakakia’s rocks around 2,000 years…

The Mystery of Sanxingdui

  In 1929, jade and stone artifacts were discovered in Sichuan, but the importance of this finding wasn’t understood until 1986, when two pits of Bronze Age riches were excavated by archaeologists.  In these pits, there were 100 elephant tusks, jade, and bronze sculptures that measured 8 feet high; this demonstrates an impressive technical ability…