elite burials

Ash sharq

Ash-sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East

REVIEW BY CH The latest issue of Ash-sharq includes a particularly thought-provoking contribution by Dr St John Simpson, senior curator in the British Museum’s Department of the Middle East, which focuses on artefacts from Anglo-Saxon England. Among the lavish grave…

The High Steward Amenhotep

Continuing his series of articles about individuals who influenced events in Egypt during their lifetimes, Wolfram Grajetzki now turns his attention to one of the most important members of Amenhotep III’s court in Memphis.

Silver bracelets

Analysis of the silver bracelets belonging to the Fourth Dynasty queen Hetepheres I has revealed the origins of the silver ore used in Egypt, and the extent of Egypt’s trading networks. A team led by researchers from Macquarie University in…

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Decorated ivories

What is it? This collection of decorated ivory plaques found in Jerusalem was probably once inlaid in a piece of ornate wooden furniture. The plaques, which are believed to date to the 8th-7th centuries BC, were discovered broken into many…

Bronze Age China: Phoenix Kingdoms

The Bronze Age kingdoms of China have long been overshadowed by the Qin, who replaced them with a unified empire. Fan Jeremy Zhang explores the spectacular discoveries that have been helping two of them, the Zeng and Chu, rise from obscurity.

LEFT The intricately detailed recumbent stag depicted on this gold plaque with turquoise and lapis lazuli inlays was found with seven others representing female deer in Eleke Sazy Kurgan 4.

Gold of the Great Steppe

A new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge presents an array of artefacts from the Iron Age Saka culture of East Kazakhstan. Amy Brunskill visited to find out more.

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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.