belteshazzar

Archive for February, 2010

An announcement has been made concerning the restoration of the ruins of the city of Babylon. It seems that work will commence shortly with the aid of US government funding (as well as other unnamed governements). This is great news. I certainly hope to visit the site myself in a few years time. The destruction and rebuilding of Babylon seems to have been a bit of recurring theme during its history!!! Lets hope that this is the last time that serious damage is done to the city.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/582516-us-aid-to-help-restore-babylon-site

I wonder if they well be removing the parts that Saddam Hussein rebuilt with his personally inscribed clay bricks? are these still present?

It has been pointed out by a few readers that the posts from this blog are not well formatted when viewed in an RSS reader such as Google Reader. I’m endeavouring to fix this over the next couple of days. Apologies that this has been the case.

• Master plan to restore ancient sites in Iraq – Gulf Times
  
  Ancient cities in Iraq to be restored
  
  
• Master plan to restore ancient sites in Iraq – Gulf Times
  
  
  
  
• Priests ate like gods – and paid by dying young
  
  
  
  
• Clashes continue in Hebron
  
  
  
  
• Archaeological research and the print media
  
  
  
  
• Archaeology journal ranking again
  
  
  
  
• Political Bias and Naïveté in Chinese Archaeology
  
  
  
  

• Back to mummies and heart disease

  Acagle on ArchaeoBlog points to an article about heart disease in mummimes.

• Playing History: Your Source for Historical Games

  Historical games, well worth a look for some history oriented fun.

• Expert to discuss Dead Sea Scrolls and period importance (TCU Daily Skiff)

  “Jodi Magness, an endowed biblical archaeology professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will give a presentation about the importance of the scrolls, a set of Old Testament manuscripts, and Qumran, their place of origin, said Nancy Ramsay, dean of the Brite Divinity School.”

• Friday Photo: First Steps Into Khufu Pyramid

A great archaeological find south of Rome: “The apparent opulence of the building, buried in a pile of rubble, has led experts to believe it was the home of the son of Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), the Etruscan seventh king of Rome whose brutal reign made Romans vow never to submit to a monarch again.”

• Tutankhamun’s Funeral at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  
  A note that “New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the special exhibition Tutankhamun’s Funeral from March 16 to September 6, 2010.” thanks to Ben Morales-Correa at Egypt Then and Now
  
  
• Archaeological Tours
  
  Archaeological travel tour informations, thanks to Dan McLerran at Archaeological Digs
  
  
• Egypt, Ethiopia – Sudan, Abyssinia, the Freemasonic Orientalist Fallacy of … – American Chronicle
  
  Interesting article about today’s “Nubia”, long (I’m personally going to have to re-read a few times to digest it)
  
  
• US returns 'cultural treasures' to Iraq – CNN International
  
  Great to hear: “The United States returned ancient artifacts and other treasures to Iraq in a ceremony on Thursday”
  
  
• Virtual Stonehenge goes online
  
  Virtual stonehenge now online
  
  
• Egypt: Millions of children still living in poverty
  
  “A study looking at the impact of poverty on children in Egypt reveals that while significant progress has been made, vulnerable children continue to face serious deprivations.”
  
  
• Celebrate Archaeology Month with Special Programs (Arizona Range News)
  
  Events in conjunction with the Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month, an annual celebration sponsored by the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office.
  
  

I haven’t really found that much interesting in the net today about the ancient world so I thought that I’d post one of my favourite YouTube videos. A stunning (and I mean stunning!) 3D recreation of the city of Babylon.

• New archaeological sites reveal life after ancient Toba eruption
  
  “Newly discovered archaeological sites in southern and northern India have revealed how people lived before and after the colossal Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago, according to Press Trust of India on Tuesday.”
  
  
• The Spanish Connection: Sarcophagus to Return to Egypt
  
  More information regarding the sarcophagus being returned to Egypt, thanks to David Gill at Looting matters.
  
  
• Chinese experts to explore sunken ships from Cheng Ho's fleet in Africa
  
  Agreement signed to investigate and excavate Chinese ships in Kenya’s Lamu Archipelago.
  
  
• Clinton hopes Mideast peace talks will resume soon
  
  I won’t post stories like this too ofter as it is in the general press, but I feel it’s always good to keep up on current news from area’s that were homes to ancient civilisations (eg Israel,Syria,Egypt,Iraq,Iran)
  
  
• Anthro Blog Carnival
  
  
  
  
• A late obit: TGH James
  
  TGH James, who has died aged 86, was among the most distinguished British Egyptologists of the postwar years, and in 1972 helped to organise the famous Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum.
  
  

With belteshazzar.org I am aiming to create something like the video below (although probably without the heavy metal music!). The difference of course is that with the web interface users are able to travel back and forward in time at will and suggest cities/empires/empire borders.

BTW. When there is more data in the belteshazzar.org map I plan to add an animation function.