Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Most have heard of the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), but his sister Joan is much less known, but this may change now. A scholar from the University of Bristol has made
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The discovery of an eleventh-century Islamic astrolabe, adorned with Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions, is truly extraordinary. The Verona astrolabe. Citation: Nuncius 39, 1 (2024) ; 10.1163/18253911-bja10095. Image source This ancient astronomical tool is among the oldest
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A remarkable discovery was made using a metal detector during an archaeological expedition in Vilnius castle in Lithuania. The archaeologists unearthed a rectangular strip of metal adorned with peculiar engravings. This finding was unexpected as
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A few years ago, archaeologists excavating an Iron Age site known as Irulegi in northern Spain discovered a flat bronze artifact shaped like a human hand. After careful cleaning, they found it bore inscriptions of
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – The creation of the decimal point was a game-changer. It paved the way for the decimal system, revolutionizing calculations across various fields. This breakthrough made dealing with fractions as straightforward as handling whole numbers, simplifying
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Easter Island’s enigmatic Rongorongo script remains undeciphered, but a new study offers evidence that it represents an independent writing system. Moai on Easter Island. Credit: Adobe Stock – modestlife Rapa Nui is famous for its
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A group of academic researchers from the University of Würzburg dedicated five years to examining “magical” texts from ancient Egypt. Their efforts have culminated in a fascinating 600-page book dedicated to the subject of Coptic magic.
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – When analyzing 2,500-year-old medical texts, scientists were surprised to discover dementia was hardly mentioned at all. Everything indicates memory loss was more or less unknown in ancient Greece and Rome. How can this be explained?
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A special find has been made in the Alkmaar Regional Archive: A number of 17th-century book bindings contained pieces of parchment from a manuscript from the 11th century. The original manuscript may have belonged to
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A new artificial intelligence (AI) software is now able to decipher difficult-to-read texts on cuneiform tablets. It was developed by a team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and Mainz University of
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A fiend, which has lurked unseen in a painting by Joshua Reynolds, has emerged following conservation work by the National Trust. The devil-like figure was included in a painting of a Shakespearean scene by the
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Over 100 letters sent to French sailors by their fiancées, wives, parents and siblings — but never delivered — have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written in 1757-8. Anne Le
Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – After almost 2,000 years, the first full word from the Herculaneum scroll has been deciphered by a 21-year-old computer science student at the University of Nebraska. On the morning of August 24, 79 A.D. Mount
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – When you look at the painting, you may not notice it immediately, but once you examine the artwork closer, you can see something “different” there. A new study suggests this 15th-century French painting does depict
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa is an eternal masterpiece that has now given up a secret. Using X-rays and infrared spectroscopy to analyze the chemical composition of da Vinci’s paint mixture, scientists in France
Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Rats in the kitchen. Typically that implies issues with cleanliness and safety. But in medieval Japan, having rats in the kitchen could suggest an entirely different meaning. Such is the case with “The Illustrated Rat’s
