Current World Archaeology 137
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Ramses the Great: How a pharaoh built his legacy
Why is Ramses II considered to be ‘the Great’? An exhibition focusing on his life and times sheds light on how Ramses earned this accolade. Matthew Symonds shares what he learnt.
Beyond the luxurious: Tracing the Late Antique ivory tradeÂ
Study of ivory use in the early medieval world is revealing fresh insights into how this material was viewed. The results have important implications for our understanding of the scale of the trade, and its impact on the elephants it exploited, as Rowan S English and Julia Steding explain.
Chamber of Secrets: what lies behind the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb?
Telltale signs of a hidden doorway hint at more rooms beyond the boy king’s burial chamber. If so, what lies within? Could it be the tomb of his stepmother Queen Nefertiti that has for so long eluded discovery?
Vampires or victims?
The 17th- to 18th-century graves contain features designed to stop the deceased returning after death, such as a sickle across the neck or body, and a stone beneath the chin.
Delos: discovering a submerged Hellenistic city
Following an initial season of underwater excavation in the Aegean Sea, Mantha Zarmakoupi talks to CWA about the rise and fall of the trading emporium of Delos.
Peru: using past technologies to solve future problems
Climate change and water shortages threaten the survival of rural communities in the Peruvian Andes. Robert Early explains how ancient Inca know-how is relevant today.
Caught in the crossfire: conflict in Syria and Iraq
In 2012, CWA reported on the damage inflicted on Syria’s cultural heritage since the beginning of the civil war. Now we take an updated look at heritage in conflict in Syria and Iraq.
The bare bones: ritual violence in Denmark’s Holy Valley
Are the macabre remains at an Iron Age sanctuary evidence of sacrificed enemy warriors? CWA talks to Mads Kähler Holst, who made the grim finds.
Rare perfume flask found in Etruscan tomb
A small perfume flask was found dangling from a nail on the back tomb wall where it had been hung about 2,500 years ago
Zagreb and beyond: exploring Iron Age burial mounds on the Trail of Princes
Patrick Skinner sets out from the country’s capital on a voyage of archaeological discovery.
Butrint: finding a timeless oasis
Shortly after the end of the Cold War, exactly a decade before CWA was launched, Richard Hodges walked through the ruins at Butrint. Here, he looks back over 20 years of discovery and excavation at this ancient city that sits on the idyllic shores of the Ionian Sea.
Cyber Archaeology: how 3D modelling is unpeeling the Neolithic at Çatalhöyük
Archaeology destroys: once a site has been dug, it cannot be un-dug. Now, however, archaeologists Maurizio Forte, Nicolò Dell’Unto, and Scott Haddow, at the huge Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, have developed a process that can do just that – virtually, at least.
Thonis-Heracleion: finding a legendary port under the sea
Once gatekeeper to Egypt’s interior, Thonis-Heracleion lay forgotten beneath the sea several miles off the Egyptian coast. The legendary city, visited by Helen of Troy as she eloped with Paris, enjoyed wealth and prestige before vanishing from the face of the earth.
Olives: oiling the wheels of civilisation
Olive trees thrive on poor soil where little else will grow, which means land that would otherwise be barren can produce food. This realisation triggered a true agricultural revolution – but when and where did it take place? Colin Renfrew and Evi Margaritis believe the clues were grown on Crete.
Roman Faverdale: a frontier trading settlement
What impact did the Roman army have on the native population living in the military north? The recent publication of the report on a settlement at Faverdale, Darlington, by Jennifer Proctor provides some unexpected answers.
Sex, sport, and sacrifice: reconstructing the ancient Olympics
Forget London 2012. What about Olympia in 388 BC? Archaeologist Neil Faulkner has just published a new book that attempts to reconstruct the lived experience of the ancient games. So what were they really like?
Surviving the tsunami: archaeological sites of northeastern Japan
The deadly wave that engulfed the northeastern coastline of Japan devastated many archaeological sites and museums. Prehistoric settlers along the coast chose higher ground for their sites, perhaps passing on knowledge of the danger from earlier tsunamis from generation to generation. CWA looks at a handful of these ancient sites.
Tidal wave: the day Japan shook
Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in Spring this year, archaeologist Simon Kaner insists there is much to celebrate about the country’s heritage – and much to mend.
The curious case of the Gua Made green masks
Sensational discoveries of metal masks in a subterranean temple have led to calls for Javanese history to be rewritten. Fiorella Rispoli investigates.
Cyrus Cylinder
The cylinder, excavated in 1879 by the archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, was once considered to be a unique object, made for ritual burial in the foundations of the Esagila, ancient Babylon’s main temple, when Cyrus rebuilt it.
Mexican Clovis and Heavenly Hopewell
In Brian Fagan’s latest instalment of all things archaeological that are both exotic and entertaining, he reads a Jamestown tablet, gets spiritual with the Hopewell, and finds gomphotheres with Clovis points.