Latest

Posted On: Sep 7th, 2015 at 13:54

**STOP PRESS** England I don’t normally post twice in the same day, but news has just been released of the completion of the five-year ground mapping project of the area around Stonehenge. The results are nothing more than astonishing. The site of Durrington Walls, less than two miles from Stonehenge, has been known about for … Read More

Posted On: Sep 7th, 2015 at 13:12

Russia The Shigir Idol, found over a hundred years ago and first dated to 7500 BC, is now thought to be 11,000 years old. The new date of 9000 BC has been obtained using a mass spectrometer. Radiocarbon dating is notoriously inaccurate the older an item is, and certainly dendrochronology was out of the question … Read More

Posted On: Sep 6th, 2015 at 14:02

A new travelogue from Super Steve! This time, the aesthetically pleasing journey from the twin sites of Xanthos-Letoon to the city of Antalya https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/12-xanthos-letoon-to-antalya/

Posted On: Aug 31st, 2015 at 19:01

Turkey A new travelogue from me – Stephen Maybury! Xanthos, the previous travelogue I posted, has a religious sanctuary located less than three miles away. It was the centre of the Lycian state – Letoon – the sanctuary of Leto. https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/11-letoon/

Posted On: Aug 30th, 2015 at 14:43

Mexico One of the most sinister practises in history was that of the skull rack, implemented by the Mexica culture in western Mexico. The Mexica – more commonly called the Aztec and who gave the modern country its name – filled their enemies with fear and dominated them through the rapid rise of a military … Read More

Posted On: Aug 29th, 2015 at 14:43

The World I have never been comfortable with the “humans killed the mammoths” idea. It’s another one of those theories that just does not hold water under scrutiny. For a start, human beings still today haven’t explored large parts of the lands where these animals roamed, like in Siberia, northern Russia, so to suggest human … Read More

Posted On: Aug 27th, 2015 at 12:08

Turkey Not content with the two oldest sites in the world – the 12,000-year-old (10,000 BC) Göbekli Tepe and the 9,500-year-old (7500 BC) Çatalhöyük – Turkey has now added a third. Gracefully moving into second place is Aşıklı Höyük, not far from its sister Çatalhöyük, but 500 years older. Dating to 10,000 years ago (8000 … Read More

Posted On: Aug 26th, 2015 at 13:26

Middle East, Egypt & Arabian Peninsula For those more scientifically inclined, this article is a cautiously detailed account of how climate change affected the Middle East and Arabian areas around 10,000 years ago, which means the area had a wetter climate than today. I post this report because it could back up the theory, first mentioned … Read More

Posted On: Aug 23rd, 2015 at 19:08

Turkey A new travelogue from yours truly – this time the tragedies that befell the city of Xanthos, in ancient Lycia. Get your box of tissues ready before you start reading this one! https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/10-xanthos/

Posted On: Aug 22nd, 2015 at 21:21

Ireland It seems our friends across the water – no, not them, the other ones! – were the first people in history to record a solar eclipse, some 5,355 years ago. That date (3340 BC) may seem rather precise without absolute dating techniques being employed but it is based on solar eclipse data. It is … Read More

Posted On: Aug 21st, 2015 at 14:31

Egypt It seems ancient Egyptian women were not just powerful leaders, but powerful negotiators as well. An 8ft-long prenuptial agreement, written on papyrus, has been found dating to approximately 465 BC. The agreement states that should the couple divorce, the wife would receive 1.2 pieces of silver and 36 bags of grain each year for … Read More

Posted On: Aug 19th, 2015 at 13:24

Turkey A new travelogue from Stephen Maybury, this time another hair-raising journey, from Aphrodisias to Kaş https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/9-aphrodisias-to-kas/

Posted On: Aug 18th, 2015 at 12:57

China Rather than solve the mystery of the red-haired mummies of the Takla Makan, the DNA results seem to confuse matters even more. The conclusion is that the mummies come from “Europe and Asia”. Well, that’s about as diverse as you can get! On closer inspection it suggests ancestry of Siberia and western Europe. While … Read More

Posted On: Aug 16th, 2015 at 18:47

Brazil This article is as important as any because it is yet another piece of evidence that removes the pre-conceived ideas we have about our past. In this case, the idea that the Amazon Jungle was an untouched and wild environment until the arrival of the land-grabbing Europeans is being unequivocally removed by hard evidence. … Read More

Posted On: Aug 15th, 2015 at 20:35

Turkey A new travelogue from Stephen Maybury, this time Aphrodisias. Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility and love, gives her name to the stunning city in the Caria region of Western Anatolia. https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/8-aphrodisias/

Posted On: Aug 14th, 2015 at 20:52

Turkey The oldest site in the world – Göbekli Tepe’s 12,000-year-old temple – has produced what archaeologists think is the world’s oldest pictograph. Scientists are still struggling to come to grips with this find, and even my most recent archaeology course and accompanied textbook did not even give the site a mention, which seems a little … Read More

Posted On: Aug 13th, 2015 at 15:32

Israel I am of the opinion, and many do not agree with me, that human beings are different species that evolved in different areas of the world. I do not support the “from Africa” hypothesis because the human migration theory – that humans left Africa and spread around the world – does not hold water … Read More

Posted On: Aug 12th, 2015 at 17:18

Turkey A new travelogue from Stephen Maybury! This time, the perilous journey from Pamukkale to Aphrodisias. Please note – I have been informed that these pages don’t look too good on an iPad either, so you really do need a laptop or PC to view them correctly. https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/travelogue/7-pamakkule-to-aphrodisias/

Posted On: Aug 11th, 2015 at 18:10

Guatemala We’re staying with the Maya once again – this time in Guatemala – as archaeologists unearth incredibly beautiful, amazingly preserved, and historically and intellectually valuable stela and panels from a site called El Achiotal, near the Mexican border. One stela talks about a Maya king and the site dates to the 5th Century AD. … Read More

Posted On: Aug 10th, 2015 at 12:55

Belize Several Maya sites, including Tamarindo, have been saved from agricultural destruction by a Maya Research Program deal that keeps the sites for ecological and archaeological purposes. The Maya Research Program (MRP) is a U.S.-based private corporation, affiliated with the University of Texas in cooperation with the Belize Institute of Archaeology, that uses its financial … Read More