The World's Most Famous Archaeological Underworld

Archaeology is a religion for illuminated individuals, however if you cross the Gods you will suffer the consequences. Many men have risked their lives in pursuit of historical relics, many have never returned.

The Valley of the Kings in Egypt is located on the West Bank of the Nile River within “the heart of the Theban Necropolis”. This illuminated place is said to hold the Wealth of Egypt where Kings and Queens were laid to rest and their treasure was buried with them. Many men have died risking their lives to discover the mysteries of this sacred place, some have never returned.

The Theban Hills by the peak of al-Qurn, known to the Ancient Egyptians as ta dehent is reminiscent of the pyramids of the Old Kingdom.

The location was isolated and protected providing the guards were on duty. Read the Full Story here

Written by the Ancient Digger

Quality Removal

In an effort to clean up Ancient Digger, some of the posts have been removed.

Sorry. Post Removed

Due to new quality standards at Ancient Digger, several posts from years ago have been removed.

Thanks for understanding.

Spectacular Caves From Around the World

The UK offers lots of scenic views and one of these is the natural wonder - Fingal's Cave. It is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.

The island of Staffa is a small island of Scotland's Inner Hebrides and is most famous for the volcanic rock formations which make up the island. The long columnar rocks with their geometric forms are part of the same formation as the more famous Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

The cave is formed entirely from hexagonally-jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland making them a unique tourist spots.

Read More: Spectacular Caves From Around the World

Written By Norbert Bermosa @Scienceray

Fantastic Lava and Explosions

The explosive nature of these fascinating geological mountains provide us with a time line of earth's past, they create chains of living and breathing islands, and they cause deathly destruction to everything they touch.

The violence of a volcanic eruption is based upon many factors including the viscosity of the given magma-the more viscous, the more violent. Viscosity is a measure of a materials resistance to flow, and the thicker it is, the slower is will flow. This works the same way in our bodies when we are dehydrated. The main reason you feel faint during dehydration is that your blood is thicker and it contains less plasma, which ultimately means it lacks enough oxygen to keep you on two feet.  

Read More: Fantastic Lava and Explosions

A Love Remembered

When I was a child living in the mountains with my mother, the medicine woman of our village, I was able to learn many things and one of those many lessons taught to me by her and the wild animals was that of love.

When I was a child living in the mountains with my mother, the medicine woman of our village, I was able to learn many things and one of those many lessons taught to me by her and the wild animals was that of love.

One lesson of love has stayed with me well into the wintertime of my life. I call it, “The Love remembered,” because at one time it moved me to tears. I remember well that day in the forest as I would not be here today if not for the unselfish act of another. So I decided that I would share this tale with you the reader and you can be the judge of it.

Read More: A Love Remembered


Contributed by The Quail

More from this Author:

• Our Quiet Times
• When I Am Alone
• Snakes
• Carolina’s Calling Me

Versailles in France

Image Source

Versailles was initially within the possession of the family of Gondi, a family of wealthy and influential parliamentarians in Paris. The Gondi family welcomed Louis XIII to hunt within the vast forests of their property. In 1622, Louis XIII became the owner of a piece of woodland in Versailles for his clandestine hunting.

In 1624, Louis XIII purchased some land to build a "gentleman's chateau of stone and red bricks with a slate roof.” In 1632, the king obtained the properties and holdings of Versailles from the Gondi family. After the passing of Louis XIII in 1643, the community had 1,000 residents. In 1661, 20 years after the reign of his father, Louis XIV commenced his personal reign. Louis soon became the most powerful monarch in European history.

In May 1682, King Louis XIV moved the court and government to the Palace of Versailles in France in order to prevent the government from interfering in his reign. During this time, Louis lavished great feasts and gifts of extravagant magnitude on his guests to remain in their favor.

Image Source

The Sun Kings’ exaggerated tastes and lifestyle would explain the over the top ornamentation and tapestries throughout the interior of the palace of Versailles. Louis XIV reigned in Versailles for 72 years and his exaggerated tastes governed French life. “King Louis XIV said that fashion is a mirror.” Louis himself was renowned for his style, which trended towards extravagant laces and velvets.


Image Source

It was a well known fact that Louis XIV was a great supporter of the arts and no matter where he traveled or walked in the gardens; instruments would play enlightened musical songs, free from the eyes of onlookers.

Image Source

The culture, the music, and the local art forms around Versailles were greatly influenced by the reign of Louis XIV. Louis loved to dance and one of the most important aspects of French music was dance. Some of the most important composers and artists evolved around this time and with the support of the “Sun King”. So if you can put aside Louis XIV’s obsession with flair and showing off his rippled legs, you would recognize that Versailles came of age and produced some of the most prolific of artistry in the world.

Post Removed 2

Post Removed

Greek Statues: The Classic Forms of Kourous, Kritios Boy, and Discobolus

Susan Parker has written a comparative discussion of three famous Greek statues, providing not only beauty, but insight into the culture of the time in which they were created.Thousands of years after they were carved and fashioned, careful attention to the figures of ancient Greek statues continue to provide clues about the culture existent during the time period of their creation.

Three particular works of art, “Kouros”, “Kritios Boy” and “Discobolos”, believed to have been carved over a time span of approximately 150 years, give an indication of changes in not only the skills of artisans, but also the values of the societies for which the artworks were created.

Egyptian Art and Greek Mosaics

This essay explores the differences and similarities between Greco-Roman Byzantine art, and ancient Egyptian paintings, in both their subject matter and rendering. Ancient Egyptian art had a very original look to it. If you see Egyptian art, you're going to know what it is. People are shown completely from the side, with the eye full-on towards the viewer. People were also very dis-proportioned, on purpose, depending on what their social status was. A good example of this is in a painting of workers bringing gold and gifts to a Pharaohs' resting place, where all of the workers are much, much smaller than the Pharaoh. Religion was very important to Egyptians, who practice polytheism, meaning they worshiped many gods. Anubis, the God of embalming, Osiris, the God of death, Ra, the God of the sun, Geb, the God of the Earth, and other well-known Gods appeared heavily in works of art.

Read More: Egyptian Art and Greek Mosaics

Contributed by Johny Jr

Exorcism Skull Found in Italy

March 10, 2009—Among the many medieval plague victims recently unearthed near Venice, Italy, one reportedly had never-before-seen evidence of an unusual affliction: being "undead."The partial body and skull of the woman showed her jaw forced open by a brick—an exorcism technique used on suspected vampires.

It's the first time that archaeological remains have been interpreted as belonging to a suspected vampire, team leader Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Florence, told National Geographic News.

Read More: Exorcism Skull Found in Italy

The Mysterious Sailing Stones

One of the most famous landmarks in Southwestern United States is Death Valley. This vast desert is also the home to one of the greatest mysteries of the ages.

Image Source

In an area known as the "Racetrack playa" in Death Valley near the western border of Arizona, there are an amazingly large number of stones, ranging in size from mere pebbles to half ton boulders that regularly travel by themselves and no one has ever been to explain why!

These huge stones move of their own volition, leaving miles of zig-zagged, curved and straight tracks that have continued to baffle the scientific community for decades. As you can see by the photos, the hardened surface of the landscape is marbled with the trails of water rivulets that would prohibits concealing outside interference. So the big question is, just how DO these mysterious stones move?

The Mysterious Sailing Stones


Written by Bren Parks

TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS

The traveling exhibition, TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS, is coming to a city near you.

King Tut was an Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom.His death is the subject of mass speculation by researchers and Archaeologists.

"The exhibition features 50 objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun including the gold sandals that adorned the mummies feet and a beautifully adorned canopic jar that mummified his internal organs."-National Geographic

In addition to the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 80 ancient artifacts are featured, which highlight many of the most significant rulers of ancient Egypt such as Khefren, whose great pyramid is the only remaining structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world and Hatshepsut, the queen who became king.-National Geographic

Post Removed

Post Removed

Famous Bactrian Gold From Afghanistan

Most of what we know of Afghanistan's countryside is filled with images of war and strife. The pictures of our soldiers dying in a country that years ago used US resources to minister to Afghan mujahedeen's which ultimately helped defeat the Soviet Union's military occupation of the nation. Amongst all of the confusion, there was a treasure virtually unknown to the world.

The lost Bactrian Gold treasure represents Afghanistan's cultural heritage. The treasure dates back to 2200 BC and includes archeological pieces from Rome, China, India, Greece, Egypt, and ancient Afghanistan.

Watch as National Geographic unfolds this unforeseen treasure:

Bactrian gold

One of the most significant finds was the famed Bactrian gold pieces. Bactrian gold is a treasure hoard that lay resting under the "Hill of Gold" for over 2,000 years until Soviet archeologists exposed it shortly before the 1979 invasion.

 

There were well over "20,600 gold ornaments that was found in six burial mounds near Sheberghan, in the northern Afghanistan province of Jowzjan".


Image Source

The treasure of the royal burial Tillia tepe is accredited to 1st century BCE Sakas in Bactria. A new museum in Kabul is being designed where the Bactrian gold pieces discovered will eventually be kept.


Image Source

Image Source

 

Additional finds included three classical ivory statues, each nearly three feet (90 centimeters) tall, representing historic water goddesses and a collection of Buddhist terra-cotta sculptures.

Gilded silver ceremonial plate.

Image Source

Gold clasps with turquoise and mother-of-pearl inlay

Kabul Museum

Kabul Museum is the national museum of Afghanistan and at one time its collection was one of the most important in Central Asia; housing over 100,000 items "spanning 50,000 years of Afghan cultural history-prehistoric, classical, Buddhist Hindu, and Islamic."

In 1994, the museum suffered a devastating loss as it was hit by rocket fire and largely destroyed while being used as a military base. In 1996, over 80% of the inventory within the museum was looted by the Taliban when they took over Kabul. "The remaining materials were at that time temporarily moved to the Kabul Hotel."

In 2003, the international population invested US$350,000 to refurbish the building. It was re-inaugurated on September 29, 2004. It will be an exceedingly monumental moment when the Bactrian Gold is settled in the newly constructed museum in Kabul. The pieces will finally have found their way home.

Only on the Nile River

Image Source

The Nile River is located on the continent of Africa and is the longest river in the world. It has two main tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile and is 4,135 miles long. The Nile River drains about 10% of all of Africa's yearly rain and snowfall. Its name is from the Greek word "Nelios" meaning River Valley.

 

Source

The main source of the Nile River is considered to be Lake Victoria though the lake has its own feeder rivers and streams which could also be considered the source. The Nile River flows into the Mediterranean Sea and is known for flowing north whereas many rivers flow south. Ten different African nations are connected to the Nile River including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt and the Democratic….

Read More: On the Nile

Written by Joe Dorish