| Stop Press
A compilation of media articles on heritage topics. Obviously, these all reflect the viewpoints of the authors.
31 July
- The ‘End Times’ for Timbuktu?
The New York Times, United States
The main gate of the Sidi Yahya mosque of Timbuktu will only be opened, according to local belief, when the end of the world comes.
30 July
- Colosseum in Rome is leaning, officials say
The Guardian, United Kingdom
The ancient Colosseum in Rome is slanting about 40cm lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating whether it needs urgent repairs.
- Extraordinary Neo-Hittite Statue Discovered in Turkey
Sci-News, United States
A large semi-circular column base, ornately decorated on one side, was also discovered. Both pieces are from a monumental gate complex that provided access to the upper citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (1000-738 BC).
29 July
28 July
- Museums Studying Dealer’s Artifacts
The New York Times, United States
Federal authorities are asking American museums to scrutinize their collections for items that they have obtained from a veteran Manhattan art dealer now accused of possessing antiquities stolen from India and other countries.
- Museums in the country to be more interactive
The Times of India, India
In an effort to make Indian museums more interactive and lively, the ministry of culture, government of India, has initiated training programmes for the museum staff at some world renowned centres and museums.
27 July
- Flying Lasers Reveal Buried Historical Structures
Spiegel, Germany
Archaeology is being revolutionized by remote-scanning techniques that use lasers to detect otherwise invisible ground features. The technology digitally extracts vegetation for a clean image of the earth's surface. Archaeologists in Germany have already discovered thousands of new sites
26 July
- Genetic Data and Fossil Evidence Tell Differing Tales of Human Origins
The New York Times, United States
After decades of digging, paleoanthropologists looking for fossilized human bones have established a reasonably clear picture: Modern humans arose in Africa some 200,000 years ago and all archaic species of humans then disappeared, surviving only outside Africa, as did the Neanderthals in Europe.
25 July
- No bailout coming for European culture
The Washington Times, United States
A Rome court that monitors the government budget has warned that new austerity cutbacks in public spending on culture is putting the country’s immense heritage of museums and historic sites in jeopardy.
- Joint EU, UNESCO initiative to safeguard Mediterranean culture
Daily News Egypt, Egypt
The European Union delegation to Egypt announced Tuesday that it was providing EUR 17 million to a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization initiative partnered with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan to implement national projects aimed at preserving “intangible” cultural heritage.
- Lung infection ailed 'Maiden' Inca mummy before sacrifice
NBC, United-States
The so-called Maiden mummy of a 15-year-old Incan girl who was sacrificed 500 years ago is giving up some secrets, revealing the teenager suffered from a bacterial lung infection at the time of her death, scientists report Wednesday.
- Archaeologists uncover Palaeolithic ceramic art
Phys Org, United Kingdom
The finds consist of 36 fragments, most of them apparently the broken-off remnants of modelled animals, and come from a site called Vela Spila on the Adriatic coast. Archaeologists believe that they were the products of an artistic culture which sprang up in the region about 17,500 years ago. Their ceramic art flourished for about 2,500 years, but then disappeared.
- Ancient life-size lion statues baffle scientists
NBC, United-States
Two sculptures of life-size lions, each weighing about 5 tons in antiquity, have been discovered in what is now Turkey, with archaeologists perplexed over what the granite cats were used for.
24 July
- Mexican archaeologists discover three 1,000 year old tombs near Monte Albán in Oaxaca
Art Daily
A funerary complex more than 1,100 years old and composed of three funerary chambers was discovered in the prehistoric site of Aztompa, Oaxaca. This discovery is highly important since it was registered inside a building that was designed exclusively to harbor a series of tombs which are placed vertically, one on top of another, and the main difference between the prior and the recently discovered tombs is that they weren’t found underground.
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Creating heritage with a spray can
NEWS.com.au, Australia
Policies for tagging and murals are under review to "examine international best practice in commissioning, maintaining, conserving and decommissioning street art".
- Key archaeology images made available online
The University of York, United Kingdom
An important collection of archaeological images by photographer-turned-excavator Philip Rahtz is now available online through the University of York's digital library service.
23 July
- Neandertals Didn't Bite the Volcanic Dust
The American Association for the Advancement of Science, United States
About 40,000 years ago, a huge volcanic eruption west of what is now Naples, Italy, showered ash over much of central and Eastern Europe. Some researchers have suggested that this super-eruption, combined with a sharp cold spell that hit the Northern Hemisphere at the same time, created a "volcanic winter" that did in the Neandertals.
22 July
21 July
- Stone commemorating heroic act with Tamil-Brahmi inscription found
The Hindu, India
Students of Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology of Tamil University here have discovered an important hero stone, a stone commemorating a heroic act, with Tamil-Brahmi (Tamizhi) inscription near Pudukottai. The discovery is considered to be significant in the history of early Tamil epigraphical research.
20 July
- "Dramatic" New Maya Temple Found, Covered With Giant Faces
National Geographic Daily News, United States
Archaeological "gold mine" illuminates connection between king and sun god. Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar.
19 July
- An olive stone from 150BC links pre-Roman Britain to today's pizzeria
The Guardian, United Kingdom
Iron Age Britons were importing olives from the Mediterranean a century before the Romans arrived with their exotic tastes in food, say archaeologists who have discovered a single olive stone from an excavation of an Iron Age well at at Silchester in Hampshire.
18 July
- Mona Lisa’s Bones Possibly Beneath Italian Church
ABC news, United States
The bones of Mona Lisa, the woman who posed for Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece in the 1500s, may be located beneath an altar in an Italian church, according to researchers.
- Great Wall of China Longer Than Previously Reported
ABC news, United States
A five-year archaeological survey done by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) found that the total length of the Great Wall was 13,170 miles long and reached across 15 provinces.
- El Zotz masks yield insights into Maya beliefs
Phys Org, United Kingdom
A team of archaeologists led by Brown University's Stephen Houston has uncovered a pyramid, part of the Maya archaeological site at El Zotz, Guatemala. The ornately decorated structure is topped by a temple covered in a series of masks depicting different phases of the sun, as well as deeply modeled and vibrantly painted stucco throughout.
- Neanderthals had knowledge of plants' healing qualities: study
Phys Org, United Kingdom
An international team of researchers, led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of York, has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its nutritional and medicinal qualities.
17 July
- Largest Ancient Maya Dam Found in Guatemala
Sci-News, United States
Archaeologists led by the University of Cincinnati have revealed new details about sustainable water and land management among the ancient Maya, including the discovery of the largest ancient dam in Central America.
- Restoration of Nur Jahan’s Tomb to begin soon
The Express Tribune, Pakistan
Lahore: The Archaeology Department plans to begin an extensive restoration project in a month or two for the tomb of 17th Century Mughal queen consort Nur Jahan, said officials.
16 July
15 July
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Trading history
The Hindu, India
The history of Kongunadu dates back to fifth century B.C. said Poongundran. Kongunadu fell on the trade route of Greeks and Romans who would travel through this region to Madurai, Uraiyur and other places in the south.
14 July
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returns stolen and looted art and antiquities to Peru
Art Daily
Yesterday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned 14 stolen and looted cultural paintings and artifacts to the government of Peru at a repatriation ceremony at the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C. The items were recovered in five separate investigations by special agents of ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York; West Virginia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Austin and Houston, Texas.
- Living treasure
The Economist, United Kingdom
As of this month, the following unlikely mixture of people and agencies found themselves tarred with the same brush: Liverpool City Council, the developers and municipal authorities of Panama, the Islamist rebels of West Africa and the quarrelsome bishops of some ancient Christian churches in the Middle East.
13 July
- Ancient palace will be rebuilt
VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam
Japan's Waseda University and the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre have completed work on a scaled down replica of Hue Citadel's Can Chanh Palace.
- DOLE: Cultural heritage tourism to create new jobs
Philippine Information Agency, Philippines
The Department of Labor & Employment’s Institute of Labor Studies (DOLE-ILS) recently held a forum on cultural heritage tourism to further promote the tourism sector, attract more tourists and investments and create job opportunities for young Filipinos.
- Authentication Start-Up Fing-Art-Print Promises to Defeat Art Forgers With Microscopic 3D Mapping
Blouin Art Info
This technology is a reality according to one of its developers, the engineer and conservationist Dr. Bill Wei of the Netherlands Institute of Cultural Heritage, who spoke at the recent ARCA Conference on the Study of Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection in Amelia, Umbria. Dr. Wei spoke of a new system for “fingerprinting” artworks that he has helped to develop. The system is called Fing-Art-Print, and is a non-contact method for the three-dimensional identification of unique art objects.
12 July
- Archaeologist Uncovers Evidence of Hernando de Soto's Expedition
Fox News, United States
When Spanish Conquistador Hernando de Soto stepped on the shores of Tampa Bay, Florida with visions of gold floating through his head, he had no mapped route, no idea of what lay in front of him and not an inkling that this trip would end in his death.
11 July
- Shengavit: Archaeology, Renovations Progressing
The Armenian Weekly, United States
Shengavit District, Yerevan–Work is progressing on much-needed repairs and maintenance at the Shengavit Historical and Archaeological Culture Preserve in Yerevan. Thanks to support from the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) and members of the U.S. Armenian community, Shengavit’s director, Vladimir Tshagharyan, is implementing critically needed maintenance and repairs at the site. Tshagharyan was appointed Shengavit’s director about two years ago.
- Lost Viking Military Town Unearthed in Germany?
National Geographic Daily News, United States
A battle-scarred, eighth-century town unearthed in northern Germany may be the earliest Viking settlement in the historical record, archaeologists announced recently.
10 July
- 'Mantle' Site, Ancient 'New York City' Of Canada, Found On Lake Ontario Shore
The Huffington Post, United States
Today New York City is the Big Apple of the Northeast but new research reveals that 500 years ago, at a time when Europeans were just beginning to visit the New World, a settlement on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Canada, was the biggest, most complex, cosmopolitan place in the region.
- Egypt’s Culturama Projection at WIPO
AG-IP News , Jordan
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host a panoramic projection of the history of Egypt’s cultural heritage at its Geneva headquarters from July 10 to 20, 2012. According to WIPO, five presentations of the panoramic, interactive presentation, which takes the audience on a journey through time from the Pharaonic Period through contemporary times, will be organized daily.
- Gold coins from time of Crusades found in Israeli ruins
Fox News, United States
Israeli archaeologists have found buried treasure: more than 100 gold dinar coins from the time of the Crusades, bearing the names and legends of local sultans, blessings and more -- and worth as much as $500,000.
9 July
- X-rays reveal secrets of Roman coins
The Guardian, United Kingdom
Scientists have used a new x-ray technique to produce spectacular 3D images of Roman coins that were corroded inside pots or blocks of soil.
8 July
- How to save a dying language
The Times of India, India
Google is trying to preserve endangered languages through its recent project. What is India's gameplan to protect 197 of its written and spoken dialects that are disappearing?
- St Kilda Centre described as ‘key case study’
Stornoway Gazette, United Kingdom
The proposed St Kilda Centre on the Isle of Lewis has been recognised as a “key case study” of global importance after UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee adopted a sustainable tourism strategy aimed at increasing local economic benefits from internationally-significant sites.
- Ship’s Wake Damages Gangway at Museum
The New York Times, United States
A long-decommissioned submarine faced an unusual adversary early Sunday — the wake from a huge cruise ship that was trying to dock at a nearby Hudson River pier.
7 July
- Zooming in on a place of mystery
China Daily, China
Zhou Bing still feels moved when he recalls entering the long-sealed-off retirement lodge of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) - Juanqinzhai, the most mysterious and best preserved of Forbidden City structures, which remains off-limits to the public.
6 July
- Timbuktu’s cultural heritage sites are under attack
The Washington Post, United States
Timbuktu was once a crossroads of the African continent and the Muslim world, a vibrant center of commerce and trade, spirituality and mysticism, knowledge and learning. Since last week, however, the so-called “city of 33 saints” has been reduced to collateral damage in a brutal Islamist sect’s push for power in northern Mali.
5 July
- Software could reconstruct medieval mosaics
The Art Newspaper, United Kingdom
Experimental software developed to reassemble Cold War documents may soon shed light on the mysteries surrounding around 5,000 medieval stained-glass fragments from Coventry Cathedral, as well as on the work of John Thornton, one of England’s greatest stained-glass artists.
3 July
2 July
updated on:
6 August, 2012
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