Smithsonian

Tutankhamun found – what about Cleopatra?

Aug 10, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, films, humour, Science

Actium, Alexandria, Amanda Barrie, Ancient Egypt, asps, BBC Newsround, Carry On Cleo, Cleopatra, gold coins, Howard Carter, Kathleen Martinez, Leicester Greyfriars, lost monarchs, Marc Antony, naval battles, Pharoahs, Richard III, secret tunnels, Smithsonian, suicide, Taposiris Magna Temple, Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings

It is just over a hundred years since Howard Carter discovered the young Pharoah Tutankhamun in an unexpected part of the Valley of the Kings – shades of Richard III, perhaps? Some thirteen centuries later, Cleopatra VII died by her own hand in Alexandria, after her lover Marcus Antonius’ defeat at Actium, but her tomb seems…
The sea gives up another secret wreck….

Jul 26, 2023

archaeology, travel

Baltic Sea, Denmark, Gribshunden, Hans King of Denmark, Henry VIII, royal flagships, Smithsonian, wrecks

We never know what will turn up at the bottom of the sea, from the gigantic Titanic to the smallest rowing boat, but one of the best seas of all (so to speak) for finding well preserved wrecks appears to be the Baltic, where the cold water preserves wrecks in wonderful condition. And as there…
A beautiful country house in the Hoxne Hoard village….

Jan 2, 2023

art, buildings, religion, Science

coins, Country Life, de la Poles, Hoxne, Hoxne Hoard, metal detecting, Old Vicarage, property sales, Smithsonian, Suffolk, Waveney Valley

Anyone who watched the brilliant BBC series The Detectorists will know what to hope of a home in Hoxne, Suffolk. The village is the location of The Hoxne Hoard, the largest collection of late-Roman gold and silver ever found in Britain, today worth almost £4 million. And now the Old Vicarage in Hoxne is for…
While searching for a 14th-century map of Europe….

Aug 29, 2022

art, travel

14th century, anecdotes, copyright, Europe, past maps, Smithsonian

While ambling around in the hope of finding a 14th century map of Europe, I happened upon this site It’s interesting, and includes an anecdote (modern) of the ruse used by a US cartographer of adding fake towns to his maps, to catch out forgers. Someone wasn’t caught out by this, he was actually…
Another car park associated with Richard

Jun 5, 2021

archaeology, buildings, religion

car parks, Carmelites, Gloucester, John Knox, Nicholas Cantilupe, Richard III, Smithsonian, Whitefriars

This one is in his ducal city of Gloucester and covers the remains of the local Whitefriars, dating from about 1270, not long after the Carmelites arrived in England, but demolished nearly three centuries. It was discovered during the building of the King’s Quarter. There were four other priories in Gloucester and we wrote about…

Smithsonian

Tutankhamun found – what about Cleopatra?

The sea gives up another secret wreck….

A beautiful country house in the Hoxne Hoard village….

While searching for a 14th-century map of Europe….

Another car park associated with Richard