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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...

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this sharper global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away from Pluto, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers). That’s twice the resolution of the single-image view captured on July 13 and revealed at the approximate time of New Horizons’ July 14 closest approach. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

"Cui bono?" Who benefits? It was the question ancient Romans asked when hoping to cut through a fog of possible causes for a problem. As of this morning, U.S. Marines were evacuating Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. We've seen this movie before: the bonfires of documents, the hammer blows to equipment, the disabling of weapons, the rush to the helicopters. Think Saigon 1973 or Tehran 1979. Only five months ago, President Obama touted his policy toward Yemen as a success: "This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we...

I was the first writer to cover the Web for a popular audience, and it did prove popular. I mean, it must have had hundreds of thousands of users in 1993! Today, Facebook alone has over a billion users. What's Hot on ZDNet Apple releases OS X Yosemite for Mac for free; iWork updated iOS 8.1 available October 20 for iPhones, iPads Apple Pay ready for lift-off and Google 'trying to get it right' Microsoft to 'Connect' with developers at November event in New York You see the problem was that it was really, really hard to use the Web...

1,700 year old Footprints of the Builders of the Lod Mosaic Exposed Press Release Wednesday, October 14, 2009 www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14 The Footprints of the Builders of the Lod Mosaic were Exposed While removing the mosaic from the ground, Israel Antiquities Authority conservators were surprised to discover 1,700 year old foot and sandal prints beneath it Head of the Israel Antiquities Authority Art Conservation Branch, "It's exciting. This is the first time I have ever encountered personal evidence such as this under a mosaic". Step by step, piece by piece, the conservation experts of the Israel Antiquities Authority detached the Lod mosaic...

A 500-square-meter mosaic depicting an intricate design of flamingos, peacocks, ducks and other animals that adorned the floor of a fifth-century C.E. villa, was unearthed recently on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean near Caesarea. Parts of the floor were first discovered in the 1950s by archaeologist Shmuel Yeivin. However, it was not fully excavated at the time due to budgetary constraints. This time, after an initial week-long excavation by Dr. Yosef Porat and Peter Gendelman of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the authority refused to continue the dig, citing a lack of funds. The Caesarea Development Corporation has agreed to pay...

One of the oldest surviving complete Roman mosaics dating from 1,700 years ago, a spectacular discovery made in Lod in Israel, will go on show at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK... from 5 June – 2 November 2014. Measuring eight metres long and four metres wide, and in exceptional condition, the Lod mosaic depicts a paradise of birds, animals, shells and fishes, including one of the earliest images of a rhinoceros and a giraffe, richly decorated with geometric patterns and set in lush landscapes.Ancient city of LyddaThe mosaic was accidentally discovered in 1996, during highway construction work in the Israeli...

The surprising news that Mozilla would start placing a limited number of ads on Firefox's new tabs page, Directory Tiles, still has some users annoyed. Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation explained and defended the Foundation's new ad program, but many supporters remain unconvinced.Mitchell Baker, the chair of the Mozilla Foundation, explained and defended the new ads in the Firefox Web browserAccording to Baker, previous attempts to add advertisement content to Firefox had been rejected by the Firefox user community. Baker described these as "features, bookmarks, tabs, and other irritants added to the product to generate revenue. We’d seen...

Archaeologists have uncovered an "extraordinary" mosaic that would've been used as the floor of a public building during the Byzantine Period in what is today Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

An ancient Tiberias synagogue was extensively vandalized overnight Tuesday, causing irreversible damage and potentially necessitating millions of dollars in rehabilitation costs. Police opened an investigation, and officials said they suspected ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists who oppose archaeological excavations of ancient tombs were to blame. "The damage is widespread… Some of the damage is irreversible," said Shaul Goldstein, executive director of the Nature and Parks Authority. The Hammat Tiberias site, which also serves as an archaeological park, boasts 1,600-year-old mosaics. The site's two synagogues date from 286 and 337 CE, when Tiberias was the seat of the Sanhedrin rabbinical court. Among the...

From the time of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E., Jews lived in a world in which Greek culture carried a certain prestige and offered a route to political influence, first within the Hellenistic kingdoms that succeeded Alexander in the third to first centuries B.C.E., and thereafter within the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. During this period -- when Alexander's empire was divided between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, and later when the Romans dominated both the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East -- Greek was the language of government and administration. Native...

Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor By Eli Ashkenazi A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias. According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.