Archaeology Odyssey, January/February 2006

One afternoon in November 1634, 19-year-old Curzio Inghirami went fishing with his 13-year-old sister in the river behind their house. Their villa, called Scornello, stood on an isolated hill in the countryside south of Volterra, the highest and most remote of the ancient Etruscan cities. On their way home Curzio amused himself by rolling stones down the riverbank. One stone uncovered a “small blackish clod,” bound together with bitumen and wax. On breaking open the bundle, he found a scroll of linen rag paper marked with strange writing.

YES By James D. Muhly Virtually all references to ancient Alashiya refer to copper, which is found in abundance on Cyprus. If Alashiya is not Cyprus, no one would be able to identify the source of the principal metal (with tin) of the Bronze Age.

Mesopotamia (as everyone who writes about it is required to state) is a land of firsts: the first cities, the first writing ... and the first cookbooks.

Uncover ancient timbered dwellings in Roman Britain, sketch prehistoric rock art in Italy, piece together pottery sherds in Greece and Spain—with the help of our annual Digs issue, you can travel back into the ancient world.