The monumental marble tomb of general and consul Marcus Nonius Macrinus, who is said to have inspired the movie Gladiator, has been found on the banks of the Tiber River, north of Rome. The tomb had collapsed, but the parts are intact. This is “the most important ancient Roman monument to come to light for twenty or thirty years,” said archaeologist Daniela Rossi.

The skeletal remains of 600 people excavated from a medieval cemetery in Budapest are being called the first settlers of Buda.    

There’s a building boom in Beirut, and that means archaeological sites are turning up right and left. “This creates a large burden for the developer. However, we as Lebanese understand that Lebanon has archaeological treasures that shouldn’t be taken lightly. We want to preserve them,” said Samir Bey, who works for a real estate development company.    

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, writes about the research being conducted on the two fetuses from the tomb of Tutankhamun.  

A temple complex dedicated to the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris has been unearthed in Bulgaria.  

Archaeologists from around the world have been excavating Sudan’s Merowe region before it is inundated by a new hydro-electric dam. They have found evidence that the Kushite Kingdom in northern Sudan was a power base using the world’s major trade routes. “All our preconceptions about this being a relatively poor, inhospitable area were completely wrong,” said Derek Welsby of the British Museum.  

Three Islamic buildings in Cairo’s historic Sayeda Zeinab district have reopened to the public after extensive restorations. “We will attempt to recapture the area’s original fame and splendor after 100 years of negligence,” culture minister Farouk Hosni said at the opening ceremony.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, October 16, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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