Excavations at the Tayinat Citadel in southeastern Turkey have uncovered a well-preserved monumental temple that spanned the time period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, often thought of as a time of cultural decline and ethnic strife. But Tayinat shows evidence of being the capital of a powerful kingdom with cultural connections to the Aegean world, according to Timothy Harrison of the University of Toronto.

A 78-year-old Wisconsin man will reportedly plead guilty to trafficking in archaeological objects taken from public lands and American Indian lands in South Dakota.  

In Scotland, a group of re-enactors replicated the 1746 Jacobite six-hour night march from Culloden to the Muir of the Clans and then back again. Reporter Steven McKenzie gives a first-hand account of the trek, including how archaeologist Tony Pollard, who led the project for the Center for Battlefield Archaeology, “lay down on the pavement and openly admitted to almost weeping at the road sign saying five miles to Culloden Moor.” Here’s a video and little more information about the marchers.   

Researchers from the University of Sydney are using digital cameras suspended from a hot air balloon and a ground-level scanning device to create the first digital survey of Cyprus’ ancient theater at Paphos.  

A farmer in Ireland’s County Tyrone unearthed a piece of Bronze Age gold jewelry while plowing a field. “It would have been owned by a wealthy person, possibly a priest, a high ranking warrior or tribal chieftain,” said archaeologist Richard Warner.  

James Delgado will host the 130^th anniversary of the Archaeological Institute of America at a gala honoring Harrison Ford and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Do you have your ticket?  

Two life-size bronze statues from Pompeii have arrived in Malibu, California, on loan from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy. The Getty Museum will restore the statues and display them for two years as part of a collaboration agreement reached in 2007.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, April 16, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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