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A five-year dig into the side of Rome's Palatine Hill yielded treasure last week when archaeologists discovered a deluxe banquet room dating from around the first or second century BC, featuring a sizable, intact and brightly colored wall mosaic.Estimated to be around 2,300 years old, the work is part of a larger aristocratic mansion, located near the Roman Forum, that has been under excavation since 2018.Almost five meters long (16.4 ft) and featuring depictions of vines, lotus leaves, tridents, trumpets, helmets and mythological marine creatures, the mosaic scene was painstakingly created using mother of pearl, shells, corals, shards of precious...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIKINI: 65 Years In The Life Of The Two-PieceSimone Foxman | Jul. 5, 2011, 5:31 PM From ridicule to ubiquity, the bikini has come a long way over the past 65 years. It was on this date in 1946 that French fashion designer Louis Réard hired a nude dancer to sport his two-piece creation after the runway models he approached refused to wear it. But despite provoking controversy -- centering around everything from morality to skin cancer to liposuction -- it is clear that the teenie weenie suit is here to stay. Click here to see the most...

A mosaic from an Roman villa in Sicily depicts ten women wearing an ancient version of the two-piece bikini. Credit: TyB / CC-BY-2.0 / Wikimedia Commons It is believed that the bikini was a 20th century invention, but an ancient mosaic reveals women in Rome wore it while playing sports. The Villa Romana del Casale, located in Sicily, dates back to the early fourth century AD. Among the ruins, archeologists have discovered one of the largest collections of ancient Roman mosaics. All of them are surprisingly well preserved. One of the rooms of the villa is called Sala delle Dieci...

An ancient Christian mosaic of archaeological importance may be loaned to a controversial American museum, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The Megiddo Mosaic, depicting an early reference to Jesus as God, is a 3rd-century floor believed to be near the site of Armageddon, the city that, according to the Bible, is to play host to the Second Coming of Christ. Constructed ahead of the Roman Empire’s conversion to Christianity, the mosaic sits inside what is thought to be the world’s earliest Christian prayer hall, in an ancient Roman village in northern Israel. Israeli archaeologists uncovered it during a salvage...

Archaeologists in Spain recently made an "excepcional" — which translates to exceptional— discovery: an ancient Roman mosaic floor that includes a depiction of Medusa's head.The intricate mosaic was unearthed during excavations at the La Huerta de Otero archaeological zone, the Mérida City Hall said in a July 26 news release. It was found in what was the main room of a Roman family's sprawling home.Experts said the colorful, well-preserved mosaic centers around Medusa's head, which is surrounded by an octagonal medallion. Four peacocks representing each of the four seasons are within hexagons in the medallion's corners.This image is framed by...

Researchers discovered in their digging stone structures said to be made from basalt, plastered walls, water cisterns, and magnificent colorful ceramics and mosaic floors.The discovery will help to understand the area where the Caliph's palace of Khirbat al-Minya was said to be built on the Sea of Galilee.Moreover, the researchers performed hands-on digging and geomagnetic surface surveys. The geomagnetic scans assisted the excavation team in digging the exact spots. According to the study, the outcome of the excavation was the accurate result they hoped.Professor Hans-Peter Kuhnen said that the excavation team hit the jackpot, unveiling the recent insights into the...

The remains of a Roman mosaic floor covered-over some 65 years ago has been re-exposed on Folkestone’s East Cliff. The mosaic belongs to a large Roman villa built during the second century AD. The villa complex had more than fifty rooms and included two bath-suites.Much of the villa site was excavated and laid out as a tourist attraction during the 1920s but the cost of upkeep led to the remains being reburied by Folkestone Council in 1957. For the original Roman owners of the villa there were fine views across the English Channel from their grand mansion but the clay...

Last spring, a Palestinian farmer was planting a new olive tree when his shovel hit a hard object. He called his son, and for three months, the pair slowly excavated an ornate Byzantine-era mosaic that experts say is one of the greatest archaeological treasures ever found in Gaza...The floor, boasting 17 iconographies of beasts and birds, is well-preserved and its colors are bright."These are the most beautiful mosaic floors discovered in Gaza, both in terms of the quality of the graphic representation and the complexity of the geometry," said René Elter, an archaeologist from the French Biblical and Archaeological School...

...The villa was laid out around two courtyards and the many rooms were adorned with mosaic floors. In addition to geometric patterns, there were also motifs of various mythological figures and scenes taken from Greek mythology; e.g. Princess Europa being abducted by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and Aphrodite at sea in her seashell.Motifs from the stories of the much younger Roman author Virgil are also represented.Inscriptions in the floor have revealed that the owner was named Charidemos and that the villa was built in the mid-fifth century.Mosaic flooring was a costly luxury: expensive raw materials...

Microsoft will finally end support for Internet Explorer on multiple Windows versions on Wednesday, June 15, almost 27 years after its launch on August 24, 1995. After finally reaching its end of life, the Internet Explorer desktop application will be disabled. It will be replaced with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, with users automatically redirected to Edge when launching IE11. This retirement affects Internet Explorer 11 desktop apps on specific versions of Windows 10 delivered via the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) to systems running Windows 10 client SKUs (version 20H2 and later) and Windows 10 IoT (version 20H2 and later). Internet...

On his father’s farm in Rutland, Jim Irving and his family were out walking when he spotted a few bits of ancient pottery scattered on the ground. Little did he know that further investigation into this would lead to the discovery of an extraordinary 1,700-year-old Roman mosaic, depicting Achilles and the Trojan War from The Iliad, and the remains of an ancient villa. Upon finding these traces during lockdown in 2020, Irving accessed satellite imagery and discovered a cropmark, and after a preliminary search he contacted the Historic Environment team at Leicestershire County Council, who in turn reached out to...

A 1,500-year-old mosaic depiction of Homer's Iliad which was found by a walker in a farmer's field has been described by experts as the 'most exciting' Roman discovery of its kind in the UK in the last 100 years. The artwork, which is the first known example in the UK, was unearthed on private land in Rutland, East Midlands.... ...The remains of the mosaic, which measures approximately 31 feet by 21 feet, are the first in the UK and one of only a handful in the world to depict the Ancient Greek poet Homer's story about hero Achilles and his...

The scientist who led the international MOSAiC expedition to the North Pole on Tuesday warned that the point could have already been reached at which irreversible global warming is triggered. During its expedition, the German research vessel “Polarstern” drifted through the Arctic on an ice floe for a year to also be able to research the winter at the North Pole, and the effects of climate change. “The disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic is one of the first landmines in this minefield, one of the tipping points that we set off first when we push warming too...

      LOS ANGELES – A Palmdale resident was charged today with illegally importing a mosaic depicting the Roman god Hercules that is believed to have been made nearly two millennia ago.          Yassin Alcharihi, 53, was named in an indictment that charges him with one count of entry of goods falsely classified.         The indictment alleges that Alcharihi claimed he was importing a mosaic and other items valued at $2,199, when in fact he was importing an ancient mosaic worth more than that. The indictment also alleges that he misrepresented the quality of the mosaic and what the artwork depicted.         The charges in the...

Unearthed in 2007 in a salvage excavation before roadworks near Shlomi and Kibbutz Hanita, the remains of the Byzantine settlement at Pi Mazuva are located in modern Israel's northwest corner on the border with Lebanon. The finds include Christian iconography, a large house and a colorful, high-quality, partially preserved mosaic floor... According to the open-source Hebrew-language publication, the settlement was mentioned in the 4th-5th century Jerusalem Talmud as being part of "forbidden territories," and according to Jewish law (halacha), were not considered part of Jewish territory. At the same time, certain commandments for Jews located in the Land of Israel...

A Roman mosaic depicting a mythical chariot race has been fully uncovered in a Berkshire village - and it could be one of Britain's most exciting archaeological discoveries. The 1,600-year-old mosaic, which was found in Boxford in 2017 but only fully uncovered recently, is one of only three of its kind in the world and is 'totally unknown' in Britain, experts said. It depicts a chariot race involving Greek mythological figure Pelops, who is racing to win the hand of love interest Princess Hippodamia. ... The mosaic will now be covered over once more to protect it and to allow...

Pieces of a renowned Roman mosaic that were looted and eventually sold to an American university are to be returned to Turkey, thetimes.co.uk reports. The twelve fragments once formed parts of the border of the "gypsy girl" mosaic in the ancient Roman settlement of Zeugma, close to the modern Turkish city of Gaziantep, and show human faces and birds. The near-complete main part of the mosaic, which has remained in Turkey, depicts a girl with windswept hair and an intense stare. It is on display in Gaziantep's Zeugma mosaics museum and has become an unofficial symbol of the city. The...

The mosaic was acquired by the MFA in 2002 from Dumbarton Oaks Research Center in Washington, DC, where it had been stored, unseen, for more than sixty years. Since its acquisition, the fragile mosaic surface has been stabilized, and crumbling concrete and rusting iron backings replaced with new supports. Our conservators are now meticulously cleaning the surface of the mosaic and reconstructing its patterned outer border—work that is taking place on view to the public through early 2006.

Mosaics depicting prominent Bible scenes were uncovered during annual excavations of an ancient synagogue in Israel's Lower Galilee. During the excavation in June, archaeologists found two new panels of a mosaic floor in a Late Roman (fifth-century) synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village. One panel showed Noah's ark with pairs of animals, such as lions, leopards and bears. The other panel depicted soldiers being swallowed by large fish, surrounded by overturned chariots in the parting of the Red Sea. Such images are extremely rare for the time period, according to excavation director Jodi Magness, of the University of North...

Restorers, after clearing away centuries of dirt, discovered the Church of the Nativity had a seventh mosaicAn Italian team has completed restoration of Crusader-era mosaics in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The mosaics will only be unveiled publicly after work on lighting, electricity and a fire alarm system. The work involved removing the layers of centuries-worth of soot and dirt – a result of the smoke of candles lit by pilgrims coming to venerate the site traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus – from about 1.55 million tiny mosaic pieces that were reviewed and restored. “I...