The conquests of Genghis Khan are traditionally associated with horrifying brutality, but this reputation has overshadowed another side to the empire that he forged. Matthew Symonds spoke to Marie Favereau to find out more.
Prehistoric cultural exchange in Germany Excavations at Eilsleben in northern Germany have revealed a fortified settlement site, dating to c.5375 BC, that may have been founded by some of the first farmers to arrive in this part of Europe. The…
Archaeological work at Eilsleben, in northern Germany, has uncovered unexpected evidence of connections between the early farmers living at this site and the pre-existing hunter-gatherer communities of the region. Eilsleben was discovered in the 1970s and has since undergone extensive…
REVIEW BY ADAM KLUPS Are Muslims native to Europe? Should Islam, in a historical and cultural sense, be considered an indigenous European religion? Readers who believe they already know the answers to these questions may find themselves reconsidering after accompanying…
What can a pair of silver cups deposited as grave goods in Denmark reveal about links with the Roman world? Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, and Rubina Raja share a story of shifting political and cultural forces.
REVIEW BY MARC DESANTIS Alexander of Macedonia is known as the Western world’s greatest conqueror. Not for nothing has he been given, since antiquity, the appellation ‘the Great’. In just 11 years, he drove his army of superb cavalry and…
The Silk Road has long been seen as a conduit for exotic goods travelling both east and west. But taking a wider perspective reveals how extraordinary objects and ideas were moving much more widely, as Sue Brunning and Luk Yu-ping told Matthew Symonds.
The game of 58 Holes – also known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ – is one of the oldest games in the world. It was long thought to have originated in Egypt, with the oldest example dating to the Eleventh Dynasty…
London’s Science Museum is currently home to more than 20 examples of intricately ornate timepieces loaned from the Palace Museum in Beijing. Carly Hilts visited to find out more.
Examining artefacts from Myanmar reveals how a tale of power, wealth, people, and the rise and fall of empires played out over centuries, as Alexandra Green told Matthew Symonds.
REVIEW BY TIM WILLIAMS This book is a collection of papers that focus on themes of human migration, communication, and cross-cultural exchange along the Silk Roads, from the 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD. The volume is…
The identity of the ancient Egyptian ‘Qurna Queen’ remains a mystery over 100 years after the excavation of her intact burial. However, new research on her burial assemblage is revealing historic biases in interpretation and shedding light on Egypt’s place within African culture, as Margaret Maitland explains.
It has been suggested that the ivories were made by Assyrian artists and possibly arrived in Jerusalem as a gift to the nobility.
One archaeological milestone this year is the centenary of the founding of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA) in 1922. Their century of research has included investigations at Aï Khanoum, a Hellenistic city on the banks of the Oxus…
Ancient Rome’s enthusiasm for all things Greek is well known, and archaeological echoes of these influences can be found across the Empire. Looking in the other direction, though, what traces did the Romans leave in Athens, the city at the heart of their idealised view? Carly Hilts reports.
According to legend, a king who had been saved after being turned into a boar ordered the conversion of Armenia to Christianity. From these royal beginnings came fights between crown, clergy, and defenders of different creeds. Christoph Baumer takes us on a journey through the ecclesiastical conflicts of the Caucasus and to its magnificent early churches.
The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, Ideas is an ambitious scholarly volume tracing the origins of the European identity in the Eurasian steppe, the vast expanse of land that stretches from Hungary through to the Ural Mountains and China. Covering a…
Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.
Dominic Green reports on what the discovery of fragments of Aegean-style frescoes and an extensive wine cellar can tell us about life in the Bronze Age palace being excavated at the Tel Kabri site in the Galilee region of Israel