Wooden doll with movable arms and legs on a transparent stand in a museum display with burgundy fabric.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Rome

Wooden doll with movable limbs from the sarcophagus of a Roman girl of the 2nd century, found in 1889

This toy was found in 1889 in the sarcophagus of a 17-year-old Roman girl who died in the 2nd century AD. The beautifully preserved wooden doll has articulated limbs and a gold ring on the index finger of its left hand

Archaeology · Mores · Ethnography

There is a European maritime tradition of leaving money inside the hull of a ship

There is a European maritime tradition of leaving money inside the hull of a ship. Underwater archaeologists often find coins embedded in the remains of sunken vessels. Do you know why coins are set into a ship's frame? So that, should the vessel be wrecked, the drowned sailors

A darkened metal object with a relief scene of soldiers and a wooden part at one edge lies on a light surface.

NB! · Archaeology · Observations

Object found in a field with a relief depiction of soldiers

Sent in by a subscriber: her friend found it in a field. What do you think it is?

A wooden stick with a sponge at one end lies on a white background beside a small dark coin.

NB! · Archaeology · Mores · Rome · Humour

Stick with a sponge as the Roman method of hygiene instead of toilet paper

This stick with a sponge is all you need to know about the Roman way of wiping oneself. And not a scrap of toilet paper

Archaeology · Heritage · Society

In the near future the State Duma will consider amendments to the law "On Objects of Cultural Heritage (Monuments of History and Culture) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation"

In the near future the State Duma will consider amendments to the law "On Objects of Cultural Heritage (Monuments of History and Culture) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation". It is evident that the modification of Federal Law No. 73 in respect of abolishing the mandatory State

Archaeology · The East · Observations · Mores · Society

Penalties for molesting, kissing and raping a married woman

I found in the Middle Assyrian Laws of the 2nd millennium BC several important norms of a city community that would fit the Slutsky affair perfectly. - If a man has raised his hand against a married woman and pawed her (literally "treated her as a child", that is,

Archaeology · Museums · Science

Mummy of a 2.54-metre Native American found near San Diego in 1895 proved to be a fake

In 1895 the mummified body of an Indian 2.54 metres long was discovered near San Diego. The mummy was declared to be the remains of the tallest man who had ever lived. By the scientists' estimate, in life the man found might have stood taller than 274 centimetres.

Black-and-white photograph of a mummy standing upright in a niche, flanked by two men in dark suits.

NB! · Archaeology · Archive · Ethnography

Mummy of a Native American man, 2.54 metres tall, found in San Diego in 1895

The San Diego Giant, the mummy of a Native American man found in San Diego in 1895. The mummy stands 2.54 metres tall

Archaeology · Museums · Observations · Heritage

I was told some interesting details of this story

I was told some interesting details of this story. The burial was discovered by chance. As my interlocutor put it, “they barbarously melted the ice lens with boiling water, damaging it considerably, and then hauled the unmelted remainder off to Novosibirsk on a hastily summoned helicopter. After the reconstruction, paid

Underground ruins of the Stadium of Domitian with a wooden enclosure for an educational excavation area and a sign showing the entrance 50 metres away.

NB! · Archaeology · Architecture · Observations · Rome

Remains of Rome's first stone athletics stadium beneath Piazza Navona

From my window I observe the remains of the first stone athletic stadium in Rome, a building quite unique in the history of sport. Where the stadium once stood there is now a residential district, piazza Navona

NB! · Archaeology · The East

A funerary mask of a man from Yingpan, with gold covering

Archaeology · The East · Ethnography

Mummy of a presumed merchant of the 4th or 5th century from Tarim and the oldest cheese

The man in a costume made of European materials is presumed to have been a merchant. His burial dates from the 4th to 5th century AD. The man stood about 2 metres tall; beneath the mask with its gold appliqué lay a fair beard, and long chestnut hair gathered at