Discoveries and news in Rome

Rome’s Piazza Augusto Imperatore, the famous square that houses the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus and which is a few steps from Ara Pacis, will be rebuilt. The project provides for archaeological works, including the renovation of the Mausoleum, which was built in 28 BCE and was closed to tourists for years.

A gold ring containing a stone engraved with the image of Cupid, the Roman god of love, was found in 2015 by a metal detector enthusiast near the English village of Tangley.

A Greco-Roman necropolis was discovered during an illegal excavation outside the mansion in Alexandria in 2015. Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, claims that a number of graves have been found, among which treasure hunters have discovered a collection of artifacts: 20 clay lamps and an even greater number of clay pots and 18 glass bottles. Such an amount of clay objects proves a well-developed pottery industry.

In 2015, scientists made an unusual discovery in the Jewish coastal city of Ashkelon. While searching the local sewage system, they noticed small bones. Initially, they were considered parts of chickens, but after research, human bones from Roman times were found. They are believed to be the remains of more than 100 infants.

The second triumphal arch of Emperor Titus was discovered in 2015 on the site of Circus Maximus, the oldest and largest circus of ancient Rome. Due to the lack of money for its full extraction, the monument will soon be buried under the ground and will wait for better times.

In 2015, the bodies of Pompeii inhabitants, buried by the volcanic ash of Vesuvius in 79 CE was renovated. The preserved attitudes of the Pompeians perfectly reflect the drama of the events that must have taken place on that fateful day. Conservators are currently working on plaster casts of 86 Romans who died in the cataclysm.

In 2015, the Israeli police caught an illegal antique coin dealer. The services discovered over 3,000 illegally stored coins in his home in northern Israel. Their value is estimated at tens of thousands of dollars.

In 2015, archaeologists from the University of Exeter, during excavations on a Roman road, discovered the remains of an ancient pitcher near Ipplepen, England.

In 2015, an extraordinary discovery was made in the ancient city of Aksum in northern Ethiopia. In tombs dated to the 1st-2nd century CE. Amazing jewellery from the Roman Empire was found, which proves that the Romans established trade contacts with the state of Aksum hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

In 2014, a group of scientists discovered an interesting find in one of the Egyptian temples. A bas-relief carved on a stone wall shows Emperor Claudius dressed like an Egyptian pharaoh in a heavily ornamented crown. In the sculpture, the emperor, reigning in the years 41-54 CE, raises a huge pole topped with a crescent moon. The painting also shows eight men, each wearing a cap with two bird feathers, climbing the support poles.