Ancient Art

Feathers and fur in Stone Age Finland

Analysis of animal hairs and plant fibres from a Late Mesolithic grave have shed new light on prehistoric clothing and burial practices in Finland.

Hilda Petrie (1871-1956)

Having learnt Arabic, Hilda would hire and pay their workers. She slept in a hut at Tarkhan with 80 skulls by her bed, living off canned pilchards and bully beef.

LEFT The Colossi of Memnon, built c.1360 BC. These two quartzite sandstone statues of King Amenhotep III, each 18m in height, once flanked the entrance through the first pylon of his mortuary temple at Kom el Hettân in Western Thebes. A diminutive figure of Amenhotep’s queen, Tiye, stands by the king’s legs.

Chariot kings: the image of the pharaohs

From Ahmose I to Horemheb, the depiction of kings in Egypt’s 18th Dynasty was a tale of tradition and innovation. Even as the image of the chariot-riding warrior pharaoh became entrenched, there were more radical changes to come with the Amarna style of Akhenaten, as Guy de la Bédoyère explains.

1922.5377 Didrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Janus

Janus: two-faced god of beginnings

As we enter a new year, many of us find ourselves both reflecting on the past and making plans for the future. This dual outlook is embodied by the two-faced god Janus, who governed the first month of the year in ancient Rome

Treasures of Ukraine: A Nation’s Cultural Heritage

Review by Lucia Marchini As well as death and displacement, conflict brings with it a threat to cultural heritage. Nearly one year on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this timely and attractive volume (with profits donated to the organisation…

Left Head of a Kushan prince from Dalverzin Tepe. Unfired clay with traces of paint, 1st 2nd century AD. Size: 49cm tall

Caravan kings: exploring ancient Uzbekistan

Sculptures of kings and princes and murals of delegations of ambassadors paint a detailed picture of the wealth, influences, and connections of Uzbekistan’s oasis cities. Lucia Marchini speaks to Yannick Lintz and Rocco Rante to find out more.

ABOVE Wall painting showing an actor with a mask, found in Pompeii. 1st century AD, Fourth Style. Size: 45 x 35cm

Painting Pompeii

Richly painted frescoes enlivened the often dark and claustrophobic rooms of Roman houses. How was this interior world of colour created? Dalu Jones celebrates the triumph of Pompeii and Herculaneum’s frescoes.

Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: the story of ancient Egypt in 100 objects

The title of this book is perhaps rather misleading. Although a hundred objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun (among which are counted two scenes from the walls of its burial chamber) are indeed listed, mentioned, and illustrated, they are arguably…

Exhibitions from around the world in 2022 and 2023

The dates listed below may have changed since we went to print. Check the websites of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.

Fragments of decorated ivory plaques found among the ruins of an ancient palace in Jerusalem

It has been suggested that the ivories were made by Assyrian artists and possibly arrived in Jerusalem as a gift to the nobility.

Long-awaited museum and gallery openings

The latest on museum and gallery openings.

Prayer and poetry: Enheduanna and the women of Mesopotamia

Enheduanna, high priestess at the ancient city of Ur, is thought to be the world’s first named author. She was a poetic innovator, but she was not alone in Mesopotamian history as a prominent or a literate woman, as Lucia Marchini learns from Sidney Babcock.

The Temple of Khnum

Conservators working in the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper Egypt, have uncovered new details of the building’s colourful ceiling frescoes. Construction on the temple began in the Ptolemaic period and continued into the Roman period, with decoration completed during…

Top The procession of gods incised on a rock wall in an underground chamber at Başbük, with interpretative drawings superimposed. The empty space beneath the figures hints that they are only half finished works. left Part of the panel, showing the largest figure, the storm god Hadad, and the earliest representation of the principal Syrian goddess Atargatis in the region.

Meeting the Ancient gods under a Turkish house

Research into an intriguing rock relief recorded in the subterranean chambers is revealing details about religion and style in the region during the Neo- Assyrian Empire.

Archaeologists explore Bronze Age site emerging from Mosul dam

Remains of a palace at the site emerged from the waters in 2010, and in 2018, when water levels were again low, archaeologists carried out a short campaign, documenting the palace.

LEFT The head of the Maya maize god, recently discovered at Palenque.

Maya maize god head uncovered in Mexico

The team believe that the head of the youthful god, depicted with delicate features, was ‘originally conceived as a beheaded figure’.

Study sheds light on origins of Venus figurine

Researchers have studied the 30,000-year-old figurine using micro-CT imaging to try to trace the origins of the oolite rock it was made from

BELOW Henry Parke (Soane office apprentice), Royal Academy lecture drawing showing a plan of Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Pen, pencil, and coloured washes on wove paper, 1817. Size: 71.3 x 129.4cm

Paper worlds and hidden masterpieces

A small selection of the thousands of drawings compiled by Regency architect Sir John Soane have gone on display in London, among them exquisite works that bring us visions of ancient monuments abroad and of unrealised splendour in England. Lucia Marchini takes a look.

Persepolis, 1935

Persepolis paintings perfectly glorious’ was the verdict Prentice Duell cabled from Egypt to James Henry Breasted, founder of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (OI). He had just seen the work American artist Joseph Lindon Smith (1863-1950) created…

H of H Playbook

Review by Lucia Marchini. The myth of Heracles, his heroic strength and ability to meet seemingly insurmountable challenges, has proven an enduringly popular one. Emperors and kings made use of his mighty image, and he was even the subject of…

Above A detail of the newly discovered Roman mosaic in London. left A fragment of painted wall plaster with a flower, found in the building next to the one with the mosaic.

Archaeologists unearth Roman London’s luxury lodgings

Excavations found the mosaic in what is thought to have been a Roman dining room at The Liberty of Southwark site.

END 22 EPK WRECK STILL IMAGES 1 Caption Taffrail and ship's wheel, aft well deck. © Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited

The search for Shackleton’s ship

The excellent state of preservation of the ship meant that once this wreck was located it was easy to identify, with its name still visible.

The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts

Review by Andrew Robinson. All academics would presumably regard writing as one of the world’s great inventions, perhaps even the greatest invention. Philologist Silvia Ferrara certainly does. An expert on the undeciphered Cypro-Minoan script, she is the founder of a…

ABove French archaeologist, author, and photographer Jeanne Dieulafoy.

Jeanne Dieulafoy (1851-1916)

“The Dieulafoys were unconventional to the point of scorn: Jeanne routinely wore male clothes…”

Above Embroidered oak leaves as trench art photograph frames.

Trench Art: the Art of War

From buttons to artillery shells, a range of items from battlefields have been transformed – often by soldiers – into powerful and personal pieces of ‘trench art’. Nicholas J Saunders explores some of the human stories of life and death sealed within these creations.

On show in 2022: exhibitions from around the world

The dates listed below may have changed since we went to print. Check the websites of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.

The Past

Roman villa and mosaic depicting Homer’s The Iliad discovered in Rutland

The stunning mosaic depicts the concluding scene of the Trojan War, in which Greek hero Achilles battles Hector, the leader of the Trojans.

Museum news

The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.

OPPOSITE Fragment of a decorative copper alloy mount, with two crudely inscribed intertwined snake like beasts with biting heads, found at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.

The Viking Great Army

In AD 865, a Viking army landed in eastern England. For more than a decade, it raided across the country, but contemporary documents tell us little about it. Dawn M Hadley and Julian D Richards use the latest discoveries to track down the Army and see the changes it brought about, not just as raiders, but also traders and artisans who gave rise to an industrial revolution.

Kazakhstan’s golden burials

The Greek historian Herodotus tells us that among the Scythians, the nomads of the Eurasian steppe, there was a group of ‘gold-guarding Griffins’. Were these people the Saka, whose elite filled their tombs with golden depictions of griffins and other creatures? As a new exhibition on the Saka opens, Rebecca Roberts and Saltanat Amir explore one recently discovered burial and what its contents can tell us about this ancient culture.

ABOVE Well preserved remains were discovered in this tomb, belonging to Marcus Venerius Secundio, in the Porta Sarno necropolis.

Tomb of a wealthy Pompeiian uncovered

The sealed funerary chamber ensured the preservation of the remains buried in the tomb, including some hair as well as a skeleton.

Left A column of pink granite from the Roman temple in Tyre.

Sacred sites in Tyre

The investigations targeted the acropolis of the city, which was occupied from the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC).

Treasures of the Scythian Kings

Barry Cunliffe, among the most distinguished of world archaeologists, has recently drawn together the evidence for the Scythians in a comprehensive new book, The Scythians: nomad warriors of the steppe. Neil Faulkner asked him what we know of this most mysterious of ancient peoples.