Archaeology News Online

There has been damage to monuments and archaeological sites on Kos as a result of the strong earthquake that shook the island in the early hours of Friday morning, a team of archaeological service experts sent by the culture ministry reported. The inspection revealed damage to sites around the town, the castle and the Ottoman mosques, the team said, announcing that preliminary protection measures will be taken and the monuments restored after due study. "For this purpose, a Central Service team from the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments Restoration directorate will go to Kos on Saturday and Monday in order to assess the situation and finalise the actions [that will be taken]," a culture ministry announcement said. The tremor also caused the movement and damage of exhibits, especially pottery, at the island's archaeological museum and this will be temporarily closed until the damage is restored, the ministry said, along with the Casa Romana monument on the island. For

New buildings have come to light during excavation and restoration works conducted from May 30 to July 7, 2017 at the Sanctuary of Apollo on the uninhabited Greek island of Despotiko (Mantra site), on the west of Antiparos. View of the excavation at Despotiko [Credit: Ministry of Culture] The results of this excavation season are being considered extremely important for the topography of the sanctuary. Among this year’s  findings, the fragment of a marble Kore figurine, dating back to the early Archaic period, part of the block with the foot of an archaic Kouros and a fragment of the leg of a Kouros stand out. Systematic excavations at Despotiko have begun in 1997 and have brought to light one of the most significant archaeological sites of the Cyclades. The excavations are headed by archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades Yannis Kouragios. As in previous years, the 2017 dig was carried out thanks to kind financial support. ​ Pottery fragments [Credit: Ministry of Cult

Τhe Acropolis Museum joins forces with the Onassis Foundation, an organization which has been contributing to Culture and Education for 42 years, in a rare and significant partnership. The end result is co-staging in Athens the “εmotions” exhibition, which scored such a huge success at the Onassis Cultural Center, New York. "Emotions" is a narrative exhibition which sheds light on the unseen world of emotions in the personal, social and political life of antiquity. To view the exhibition is to embark on a tumultuous voyage into the soul of Man, whose passions are here expressed through the filter of ancient art. Exhibits from the world's greatest museums tell stories of emotions in ancient Greek art through the gaze of the Acropolis Museum. Many of the exhibits are unique art-works which are on display in Greece for the first time. Many more from Greek museums are basking in the light of international interest for the first time. View of the exhibition ‘εmotions’, co-org

More than 2,500 years ago, an Athenian nobleman named Cylon -- the first recorded Olympic champion -- tried to take over the city of Athens and install himself as its sole ruler. A conservator of archaeological works on a human skull in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] According to Thucydides and Herodotus, Athenian and Greek historians who wrote about the coup, Cylon enticed an army of followers to enter the city and lay siege to the Acropolis. They were defeated, but Cylon managed to escape. Now archaeologists in Athens believe they may have found some of the remains of Cylon's army in a mass grave in Phaleron, four miles (6 kilometres) south of downtown Athens. Bio-archaeologist Eleanna Prevedorou poses in a lab at the American School  of Archaeology in Athens on July 7, 2017 [Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP] The discovery of the 80 skeletons of men is "unequalled" in Greece, said site project director Stella

A joint Greek-American expedition to the Fourni archipelago found eight new shipwrecks, bringing the total number of shipwrecks in the small archipelago to fifty-three. The Fourni Underwater Survey is one of the most exciting projects currently in archaeology. With the identification of 53 shipwrecks and much more coastline and deepwater areas to search, Fourni is among the largest concentrations of ancient shipwrecks in the world. Divers raise a Roman North African amphora for further study and conservation [Credit: Vasilis Mentogianis/ Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities-Hellenic Ministry of Culture/RPM Nautical Foundation] The third season of the Fourni Underwater Survey was conducted during three weeks in June by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities/Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports in cooperation with RPM Nautical Foundation. The research is directed by Dr. George Koutsouflakis from the EUA and Dr. Peter Campbell from RPM Nautical Foundation. An archaeologist systematic ph

An investigation by an architectural researcher from Kumamoto University, Japan has revealed the high possibility that a wooden stage existed in the theatre of the ancient Greek City of Messene during the Greek Classical period (ca. 369 BC). The evolution from the rustic, open theatres of ancient Greece to the magnificent theaters of the Roman times clearly demonstrates the passion that the people had for the theatre. Theatre of Ancient Messene [Credit: © Oleg Znamenskiy/Shutterstock] The ancestor of modern theatre architecture is the theatre of ancient Greece and Rome. The simple and open ancient Greek theatre (around 323 BC -- 31 BC) was composed of a circular orchestra, a stage, and bowl-shaped seating area for the audience. In the Roman times (31 BC -), the stage grew higher and was decorated with marble column pillars which eventually evolved to splendid, closed theatres with integrated audience seating. The development of this theatre construction was thought to involve a change

Greek and Italian archaeologists are collaborating on a program to preserve an ancient villa at the bottom of the sea of Ancient Epidaurus. The underwater conservation activities are part of a pilot training program for the conservation of marine archaeological remains, organized and executed in cooperation between the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Italian Archaeological School in Athens. The BLUEMED program is a European project and involves Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and Spain. For the first time this year, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities will be involved in the program that started with theory (July 3-4, 2017) relating to methods for the on-site conservation of marine archaeological sites, to address bio-degradation and degradation problems and to document, restore and maintain the Underwater Cultural Heritage artefacts in the Italian Archaeological School. The project is to conserve a section of a sunken Roman villa in the Ancient Epidaurus sea. On site practicing t

There has been damage to monuments and archaeological sites on Kos as a result of the strong earthquake that shook the island in the early hours of Friday morning, a team of archaeological service experts sent by the culture ministry reported. The inspection revealed damage to sites around the town, the castle and the Ottoman mosques, the team said, announcing that preliminary protection measures will be taken and the monuments restored after due study. "For this purpose, a Central Service team from the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments Restoration directorate will go to Kos on Saturday and Monday in order to assess the situation and finalise the actions [that will be taken]," a culture ministry announcement said. The tremor also caused the movement and damage of exhibits, especially pottery, at the island's archaeological museum and this will be temporarily closed until the damage is restored, the ministry said, along with the Casa Romana monument on the island. For

New buildings have come to light during excavation and restoration works conducted from May 30 to July 7, 2017 at the Sanctuary of Apollo on the uninhabited Greek island of Despotiko (Mantra site), on the west of Antiparos. View of the excavation at Despotiko [Credit: Ministry of Culture] The results of this excavation season are being considered extremely important for the topography of the sanctuary. Among this year’s  findings, the fragment of a marble Kore figurine, dating back to the early Archaic period, part of the block with the foot of an archaic Kouros and a fragment of the leg of a Kouros stand out. Systematic excavations at Despotiko have begun in 1997 and have brought to light one of the most significant archaeological sites of the Cyclades. The excavations are headed by archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades Yannis Kouragios. As in previous years, the 2017 dig was carried out thanks to kind financial support. ​ Pottery fragments [Credit: Ministry of Cult

Τhe Acropolis Museum joins forces with the Onassis Foundation, an organization which has been contributing to Culture and Education for 42 years, in a rare and significant partnership. The end result is co-staging in Athens the “εmotions” exhibition, which scored such a huge success at the Onassis Cultural Center, New York. "Emotions" is a narrative exhibition which sheds light on the unseen world of emotions in the personal, social and political life of antiquity. To view the exhibition is to embark on a tumultuous voyage into the soul of Man, whose passions are here expressed through the filter of ancient art. Exhibits from the world's greatest museums tell stories of emotions in ancient Greek art through the gaze of the Acropolis Museum. Many of the exhibits are unique art-works which are on display in Greece for the first time. Many more from Greek museums are basking in the light of international interest for the first time. View of the exhibition ‘εmotions’, co-org