Michelle Moran's Blog, page 82

57 ancient tombs with mummies unearthed in Egypt

AP: CAIRO – Archeologists have unearthed 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of which hold an ornately painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said Sunday.

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Revealed: The teenage mistress who mesmerised Charles Dickens... and broke his wife's heart

by An Wilson

On June 9, 1865, the 'tidal train', as the Victorians called the train which picked up cross-Channel passengers, was making its way from Folkestone to London, rattling through Kent at 50 miles per hour.

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King Tut's Leftover Bandages Yield New Clues

by Rossella Lorenzi

King Tutankhamun's mummy was wrapped in custom-made bandages similar to modern first aid gauzes, an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals. Running in length from 4.70 meters to 39 cm (15.4 feet to 15.3 inches), the narrow bandages consist of 50 linen pieces especially woven for the boy king.

Read the rest on Discovery.

Derbyshire Iron Age bones were of pregnant woman

Tests carried out on a skeleton discovered at an archaeological dig in Derbyshire have found it was that of a pregnant woman.

Read the rest on the BBC.

Headless Egypt King Statue Found; Link to Cleopatra's Tomb?

by Andrew Bossone in Cairo for National Geographic News

A massive, headless statue of a Greek king has been found in the ruins of an ancient Egyptian temple, adding to evidence that the structure could be the final resting place of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, excavation leaders say.

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Precious artworks stolen in Paris heist

Paris, France (CNN) -- Five paintings, including a Matisse and a Picasso, were stolen overnight from a Paris museum, the Paris mayor's office said Thursday.

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Pagan altar unearthed at building site in Israel

AP: JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists say workers have uncovered an ancient pagan altar while clearing ground for construction of a hotly disputed hospital emergency room.

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Greek Police Seize 2 Statues From 2 Farmers

AP: Police in southern Greece have seized a rare twin pair of 2,500-year-old marble statues and arrested two farmers who allegedly planned to sell them abroad for euro10 million ($12.43 million), authorities said Tuesday.

Read the rest on NPR.

In an Ancient Mexican Tomb, High Society

by JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Last month, in their second season at the site of an ancient settlement in southern Mexico, archaeologists digging into the ruins of a pyramid came upon a row of large, flat stones — the wall of a tomb. Inside, they found skeletons of a prominent man, possibly a ruler, and two human sacrifices. Another apparently elite adult was on a landing just outside the tomb.
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Synchrotron probes Egyptian beads

Dani Cooper: ABC

Not content with managing the household it appears women in Ancient Egypt were also keeping the budget in the black with some home-based manufacturing.

Read the rest here.