Dozens of amphorae of a type more frequently found in British waters have been discovered at an ancient shipwreck site off the coast of Sicily. The wreck is between 2,100 and 1,900 years old and contains a large proportion of Richborough 527 type amphorae, a vessel named after its type site of Richborough, Kent, in […]
Two 18th century glass bottles of cherries have been discovered in the cellar of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. The dark green glass bottles were found still sealed and upright. Their shape dates them to the 1740s or 50s, and since a brick floor was laid above them in the 1770s, that means they haven’t
The rare 12th century walrus ivory carving depicting Joseph of Arimathea taking the body of Christ down from the cross that was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a private sale last year has been sniped by the V&A. The Romanesque carving was made between 1190 and 1200 probably in York. It was
The magnificent Renaissance ward of the oldest hospital in Europe, the complex of Santo Spirito in Saxia on the Vatican banks of the Tiber in Rome, has been restored. Two years of work have repaired the carved wooden ceiling, the masonry and the interior and exterior plaster, reviving the huge expanse of frescoes and polychrome
During the first excavation of the Villa dei Papyri in Herculaneum, the team unearthed the villa’s entire library, more than 1,800 scrolls still tightly rolled and neatly stacked in shelves. That was in 1754, 1,675 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius instantly carbonized organized material in clouds of superheated gases and ash and then
A massive joint international law enforcement effort has resulted in the arrest of 101 suspects in the traffic of antiquities and the recovery of more than 19,000 works of art and archaeological artifacts. The investigations involved Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organization and national police forces from 103 countries all over the world, including Spain,
A famous medieval icon of the Madonna and Child traditionally held to have been painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist has been conclusively identified as the work of late 13th century artist Filippo Rusuti, creator of the grand upper facade of St. Mary Major. That mosaic depicting Christ enthroned among angels, saints and the symbols
