Category | Culture & Heritage

British Library Launches New Virtual History Timeline

Posted on 29 January 2010

Comparing the Peasants’ Revolt with the Punk Revolution or medieval astrology with the Apollo moon landings might appear unconnected at first, but the British Library’s new interactive website Timelines: Sources from History will allow students to get a sense of change, continuity and chronology when studying historical events. Bringing together material from the Library’s vast collections and using cutting-edge technology, users will now be able to discover historical connections and create links in an exciting multimedia experience.

LaunchTimeline-home

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Jorvik Centre unveils new life-like animatronics

Posted on 21 January 2010

A FRESH horde of Vikings have descended on York thanks to a £1 million refurbishment to the Jorvik Centre.

Joan of Arc ‘Relics’ Confirmed to Be Fake

Posted on 21 January 2010

How did the bones of two ancient Egyptian mummies — one human, the other feline — end up in a bottle that supposedly contained the remains of Joan of Arc?

Most British men are descended from ancient farmers

Posted on 20 January 2010

The first farmers to arrive in Britain outbred the native hunter-gatherer men and have left their mark in modern males’ Y chromosome

Stonehenge on ‘most threatened’ world wonders list

Posted on 12 January 2010

The traffic-choked roads still roaring past Stonehenge in Wiltshire have earned the world’s most famous prehistoric monument a place on a list of the world’s most threatened sites.

The government’s decision to abandon, on cost grounds, a plan to bury roads around Stonehenge in a tunnel underground and the consequent collapse of the plans for a new visitor centre, have put the site on the Threatened Wonders list of Wanderlust magazine, along with the 4×4-scarred Wadi Rum in Jordan, and the tourist-eroded paths and steps of the great Inca site at Machu Picchu in Peru.

Stonehenge

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£357,430 for research into Middle English verse forms

Posted on 03 December 2009

Professor Ad Putter of Bristol University’s Department of English has been awarded £357,430 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a project that will investigate the verse forms of Middle English romances.

The romances were originally intended for a listening audience and, although they are still widely read today, modern readers no longer inhabit their sound worlds. This research project aims to rediscover these lost worlds through studying the aural qualities – rhyme and rhythm – of the poetry.

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Viking ship’s maiden voyage tonight in Billings Holiday Parade

Posted on 27 November 2009


A dragon’s head with fiery red eyes towers above the prow of the Viking ship.

Its serpent-like tongue juts out as though it were spitting fire.

That’s the plan anyway.

The ship will never set sail, but the Sons of Norway intend to launch it tonight at the Holiday Parade through downtown Billings.

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Historic royal charter restored

Posted on 11 October 2009

An ancient document that details the moment when King William the Lion of Scotland granted Royal Burgh status to Perth in 1210 has been restored.

Scandinavians are descended from Stone Age immigrants

Posted on 28 September 2009

Today’s Scandinavians are not descended from the people who came to Scandinavia at the conclusion of the last ice age but, apparently, from a population that arrived later, concurrently with the introduction of agriculture. This is one conclusion of a new study straddling the borderline between genetics and archaeology, which involved Swedish researchers and which has now been published in the journal Current Biology.

Vikings ‘were warned to avoid Scotland’

Posted on 23 September 2009

Scotland is full of dangerous natives who speak an incomprehensible language and the is weather awful. That was the verdict of a series of 13th century Viking travel guides that warned voyagers to visit at their peril.

The Oldest Lunar Calendar on Earth

Posted on 23 September 2009

The Oldest Lunar Calendars and Earliest Constellations have been identified in cave art found in France and Germany. The astronomer-priests of these late Upper Paleolithic Cultures understood mathematical sets, and the interplay between the moon annual cycle, ecliptic, solstice and seasonal changes on earth.

16th century German castle destroyed by fire

Posted on 12 September 2009

A fire that broke out on Thursday morning in the Bavarian town of Ebelsbach has left a 16th century German castle in ruins.

Flames were first spotted coming from the building at 4:30 am. By the time police arrived at the scene, the roof was already totally engulfed.

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Bulgaria Recreates Orpheus’s Lyre

Posted on 02 September 2009

The lyre of Orpheus, the string instrument which the Thracian and ancient Greek mythological musician played with mastery, was recreated and will be displayed in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv as part of a project of the Municipal Institute Ancient Plovdiv, its representatives recently announced.

Germany Recalls Myth That Created the Nation

Posted on 02 September 2009

In September 9 AD, Germanic tribesmen slaughtered three Roman legions in a battle that marked the “big bang” of the German nation and created its first hero — Hermann. The country is marking the 2,000th anniversary with restraint because the myth of Hermann remains tainted by the militant nationalism that would later be associated with Hitler.

Extra protection for battlefields

Posted on 29 July 2009

Historic battlefields across Scotland are to be given more protection.

Irish Museum receives grant to display Viking treasure

Posted on 21 July 2009

The Waterford Museum of Treasures is to receive a development grant of €16,000 to assist in creating a new space within the permanent exhibition area to display internationally important objects recently discovered at the Viking site at Woodstown.

The allocation as been made by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen, under his department’s support for the regional museums programme.

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Jorvik Viking Centre set for £1million upgrade

Posted on 20 July 2009

A MILLION pound redevelopment of the Jorvik Viking Centre is expected to be announced tomorrow by Culture Minister Barbara Follett.

The decision by York Archaeological Trust to revamp the hugely popular attraction will include an underfoot reconstruction of the original Coppergate excavation, state of the art animatronics and the reconstruction of a new Viking-age house and backyard.

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Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says

Posted on 18 July 2009

The 15th century Vinland Map, the first known map to show part of America before explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the continent, is almost certainly genuine, a Danish expert said Friday.

Digging deeper: Archaeologists race to show Pompeii daily life

Posted on 17 July 2009

Mount Vesuvius still looms, quiet for now, over Pompeii. But for the lost Roman city, the drama never really ends.Buried in A.D. 79 by the volcano’s eruption, the storied victim of antiquity continues to surprise scholars with new discoveries, even as their hopes dim for the site’s survival.

The New Nordic Heritage Museum

Posted on 17 July 2009

Did you know that the Nordic Heritage Museum is moving? Well, after over 25 years in its current home, the Museum is embarking on a journey to build a new facility with the space, location, and stature to engage future generations in learning about the Nordic immigrant experience in the Northwest and Scandinavian art and culture—past, present, and future.

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