Greek officials announced that the cost of permits for filming and photographing ancient monuments would be reduced, and they now are attempting to streamline the process of securing those permits. “We need a fast-track treatment so that interested parties do not have to wait for months for a response from KAS [the Central Archaeological Council] officials,” said Markos Holevas, former director of the Hellenic Film Commission.

Take a quick trip to the 3,000-year-old site of Mycenae, Greece, with writer Jim Eagles.

A lack of funds has prompted Albania’s government to consider leasing its monuments to private businesses for commercial activities. “Albania is a country of [hundreds of thousand] of buildings built without permits, where neither the state nor the law punishes people who build illegally,” said archaeologist Gjergj Frasheri, a critic of the plan.

A sandstone statue depicting a seated “mother goddess”  has been found near the 1,200-year-old Bheemeswara Swamy temple in southern India. The badly eroded carving dates to the third century B.C.

A Viking sword, complete with bits of wood and fabric, has been discovered at a construction site in central Norway, according to Anne Haug of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, February 21, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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