Wednesday, March 16, 2005

THe Shroud of. . .Dong Xa? Dr Cameron of Tura finds a 2300-year-old shroud

A team coordinated by Tura Beach archaeologist Dr Judith Cameron has discovered and preserved the oldest complete shroud found in Southeast Asia, dating back some 2,300 years to the Bronze Age Dongson culture.

The cloth was found in a wooden boat-shaped coffin covered by thick black mud in a canal in the Red River plains area of Vietnam in December last year.

In what has been hailed as a major find, team leader Professor Peter Bellwood of the Australian National University said that the boat coffin - unearthed at Dong Xa, 50km southeast of Hanoi - was possibly also the oldest in Southeast Asia.


Good for them Museum spotlights neglected exhibits

A collection of Roman-era gold treasures has spent centuries hidden from view, either concealed by thieves in a clay jar, buried under the desert or languishing in a dusty corner of Cairo's rambling Egyptian Museum.

On Tuesday, the set of magnificent gold necklaces, crowns and coins dating back to the second century were put under the spotlight when Cairo's 102-year-old museum launched a program to give prominence to many of its neglected exhibits in new monthly displays.


Townhouse reveals real skeletons in closet

SKELETONS in the closet were a real-life problem for Ashford Price when he opened a cupboard in his late aunt's bedroom to be confronted with dozens of human remains.

The grand Georgian townhouse in the stately sweep of Swansea's leafy St James's Crescent had hidden a secret for decades until its owner, Brenda Morgan, 84, passed away.