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One of the most spectacular Byzantine mosaics ever discovered in Israel was finally revealed to the public for the first time, according to a statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The so-called Be'er Shema (Birsama) mosaic was first uncovered three decades ago near Khirbat Be'er Shema in the western Negev, but spent years undergoing intensive conservation and preservation work. "Over the ensuing years since its discovery, the mosaic floor's state of conservation deteriorated," said IAA's Ami Shahar. "Upon completion of our expert team's intensive efforts, the results enable the public to view and appreciate a spectacular 1,600-year-old work...

If only these floors could talk. Scientists are going gaga over the earliest inscription declaring “Jesus is God,” claiming that this 1,800-year-old engraving could change our understanding of Christianity. The mosaic is “the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” declared Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., where the theologically significant relic has been housed since July, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported. Dubbed the Meggido Mosaic, the 581-foot artifact was originally underneath a floor of the Meggido Prison in Israel in 2005, after which it was excavated in pieces by the Israel Antiquities...

In the province of Catania, archaeologists have excavated the remains of a Roman house with a mosaic floor dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. The house was part of a whole Roman village and was situated close to the town of Vizzini in southeastern Sicily, at an elevation of almost 500 meters above sea level...These geophysical measurements led the research team to the remains of the buildings that have now been excavated. The building extended 30 by 13 meters, and its remains are just below the current surface. Inside, there is a representative room of nearly 100 square...

Newsweek reports that a water pipeline project on the Greek island of Evia has uncovered traces of a settlement dated to the fourth century B.C. A mosaic floor made with colored pebbles in white, black, red, and yellow has been found in a dwelling situated in the middle of the settlement. The center image of the mosaic features two satyrs, the male nature spirit companions of Dionysus, the Greek god of winemaking and fertility. One of the yellow-haired satyrs has a beard and appears to be dancing to music played by the other on a double flute. The square room...

Artnet News reports that a section of opus sectile flooring has been discovered at Baiae, a luxurious Roman town now underwater in the Gulf of Naples, by a team of divers from C.S.R. Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Underwater Archaeology and Technology. Opus sectile flooring is made up of large, polychrome stones cut into precise shapes and was popular among elites during the first century A.D. Such large stones made it more expensive than mosaic flooring, which was made with small tesserae. This floor, made with recycled materials, was installed in a villa's porch reception area overlooking the sea. Baiae eventually...

When life gives you a giant mosaic, build a museum-hotel. Digging in the soil of Antakya, a small city near Turkey's Syrian border known to the Greeks as Antioch, Nehmi Asfuroglu discovered one of the world's largest and best-preserved ancient mosaics. It was an archaeologist's dream, but Asfuroglu is a developer, and he was hoping to build a hotel on the site. He could have abandoned the project or concealed the discovery, but instead, he funded a seven-month excavation, abandoning the power tools of hotel construction for the manpower of historians from the local university. He hired architect Emre Arolat...

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...