25 dreamy Autochrome photos taken by Alfonse Van Besten in the 1910s.

Roman Rock Crystal Hydria, 1st Century AD

A carved crystal vessel with loop handles and palmette detailing; with later, probably 17th-18th century AD silver-gilt lid and chain. 256 grams, 12.5cm (5").

Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, mentions a number of sources for rock crystal, such as Asia Minor, Cyprus, Portugal and the Alps, though he states the best came from India. The stone was fashioned into vessels in Bronze Age Greece as well as Cyprus, Asia Minor, Egypt and Mesopotamia. The use of rock crystal for vessels fell out of fashion in Classical Greece but was revived in the Hellenistic period where it was associated with the wealthy elite in such cities as Alexandria and Antioch.

In the Roman Empire rock crystal was highly valued and according to Pliny, Livia, the wife of Augustus, dedicated a block weighing one hundred and fifty pounds on the Capitol; he also mentions a wealthy Roman woman paying one hundred and fifty thousand sestertii for a single rock crystal dipper. Suetonius mentions that Nero had two crystal cups carved with Homeric scenes that he broke when he received the news that the Senate had called for his execution. The high value placed by the Romans on rock crystal can be seen in the high degree of carving that the surviving pieces have, and their relative rarity compared to other stone vessels.

~Head of Aphrodite Date: A.D. 1-100 Place of origin: Italy Culture: Roman

Byzantine Gold Coin Bracelet, 6th-7th Century AD

Hunting Sword

This type of sword was known as a ‘hanger’ since it was hung from the belt. It was widely used for hunting and when travelling as it was more convenient than the longer rapier. The ‘hanger’ was very popular in England in the middle of the 17th century.

Sword blades made by the cutlers of Solingen in Germany were exported all over Europe. During the Civil War, many were mounted in English hilts by London retailers. The inscription and date refer to Cromwell’s final victory over the Royalists at the Battle of Worcester and are rare survivals. Many references to Cromwell were erased after the Restoration of 1660.

Peter Henckels was a member of a long established family of blade-makers from Solingen in Germany. This was then a famous centre for the manufacture of sword blades and Solingen cutlers had contracts with London retailers to mount their blades in English hilts.

Saxon workshop evidence found by amateur archaeologists in Somerset

Amateur archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be a Saxon workshop in a dig in Somerset.

The foundations were uncovered along with a large Norman building at an undisclosed location on the Mendip Hills.

Saxon keys and a 13th Century jug were also among the finds.

Project leader Pip Osborne, said: “There’s no written record of a building here but ever since I moved here I’ve been intrigued by the field.”

The find was made by a community archaeology group on a plot of land near the centre of a Mendip village.

The land, according to Ms Osborne, was given to the Abbey of Jumieges in Normandy in France by William the Conqueror in about 1080. Read more.

Missing 3,800-year-old funerary statuette recovered in London

An ancient Egyptian Ushabti statue dating back over 3,800 years has been recovered in London after it went missing from the storage room of a museum in Aswan in 2013.

The Antiquities Ministry issued a statement on Sunday announcing that the statue was handed over to the Egyptian Embassy in London after a trustee from the British Museum discovered it in the possession of an English citizen.

The ancient artifact was reportedly handed over voluntarily after the individual learned that it had been stolen and smuggled out of Egypt years earlier. It is reportedly in the process of being repatriated to Egypt. Read more.

Large Neolithic site discovered in NW China

XI'AN – Archaeologists have discovered a large Neolithic ruin dating back more than 5,000 years in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

The site, covering over one million square meters, was found in Yulin City following a six-month excavation, according to the provincial archaeology institute.

Dwellings and ditches made between 3000 B.C. and 1000 B.C. have been discovered in seven sites.

The ruin is identified as belonging to the late Yangshao Culture period and the early Longshan Culture period of the Neolithic Age. Read more.

Here’s a pretty incredible find from the Keyes Collection in our repository! While looking through boxes of artifacts from Oneota sites for an upcoming exhibit, we came across this special little scraper. While the Lane Farm Enclosure was being excavated in 1936, archaeologists found that a root had grown around this artifact. Instead of prying the scraper from the root, they just took a section of it!  It’s amazing what goes on below the surface before we unearth an object, isn’t it?

The Hagia Sophia is one the major sites that still remains from the Byzantine Empire.  During the Byzantine Empire it served as a Greek Orthodox Church and after the fall of Constantinople a mosque.  Now it is a museum in modern day Turkey attracting tourists, both religious and secular, from all over the world. 

Many have wanted to know what it would be like to be in this place during the Middle Ages, and well now you sort of can.  Scholars and scientist have been working for years now to re-create the acoustics of when the Hagia Sophia first functioned as a sacred site.  And you can hear it now:

~Hasmonean

~ Anthropoid inner coffin of Takhebkhenem, Lady of the house. daughter of Pedikhons. Period: Late Period Place of origin: Thebes

The “Glass Car” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, 1939

via reddit

~ Votive Relief to Achilles and Thetis. Culture: Greek (Thessalian) Place: Thessaly, Greece Date: ca. 350 B.C. Medium: Marble

Jadeite head fragment,  7.40 x 6.20 x 5.00 cm

Olmec culture, Mexico, c. 900-300 BC

Source: Cleveland Museum of Art (1961.31)

Unidentified people from Nambe Pueblo in Santa Fe, New Mexico Photographer: Waldo Twitchell Date: 1914 Negative Number 002992

Egyptian Terracotta “Hyksos” Concubine Figure, Second Intermediate Period, 15th-17th Dynasty, 1650-1550 BC

The nude figure, standing with her incised hands resting on her thighs, modeled with long tapering legs, wearing an applied triple strand collar framing her small breasts, the broad face modeled with incised linear eyes and a short ridged nose, with pierced disc earrings, her coiffure pierced with three holes, 17cm