Gold treasure revealed

by Sean McLachlan on

Back in September we reported on an amazing find of Anglo-Saxon gold that had been discovered in England. Now some of the treasure is on display at a free exhibit at the British Museum.

The Staffordshire Hoard dates to the 7th or 8th centuries AD, a time when England was a patchwork of small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons were great warriors and storytellers and made some of the most beautiful metalwork and jewelry of the early Middle Ages.

The hoard was found by a man using a metal detector and includes more than 1,500 items such as bracelets, three gold crosses, sword fittings, and other pieces of jewelry. The hoard is valued at £3.285 million ($5.35 million).

Archaeologists noticed that all of the objects would have been used by men, and think this hoard may be booty taken during one of the period’s innumerable wars. There are a large number of sword fittings that had been torn off the weapons. These swords would then be untraceable, a bit like rubbing off the serial number on a gun. Perhaps the swords of defeated enemies had been stripped of their gold and the weapons redistributed among the victors.

You can learn more about the hoard at this website, complete with some dazzling photos.

Compromise over Rosetta Stone fight?

by Sean McLachlan on

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egyptian Antiquities Council, has offered a compromise in his battle with the British Museum over the return of the Rosetta Stone.

The stone was discovered by French archaeologists in 1799 but went to the British Empire in 1801 as spoils of war after they ejected Napoleon from Egypt. It’s one of the most important of ancient Egyptian artifacts because it has the same text written in hieroglyphs, demotic (another Egyptian script), and ancient Greek. Until its discovery nobody could read ancient Egyptian, but Greek had never been forgotten. The key to unlock one of the world’s greatest civilizations had been found.

The Rosetta Stone is one of the treasures of the British Museum, but Dr. Hawass has been leading a fight to get it back. Now he’s said he’ll stop if the British Museum loans the stone to Egypt for a few months.

If it did make it back to Egypt, it would probably be displayed in Cairo’s newly revamped National Museum, a jaw-dropping collection of ancient treasures.

The Brits might want to take him up on this. Dr. Hawass has been a tireless crusader and has already gotten the Metropolitan Museum of Art to return a stolen artifact and had a similar victory with the Louvre. He’s shown he won’t give up until Egypt’s heritage is back home.

Crazy roads from around the world

by Kraig Becker on

Lets face it! We all love a good road trip now and again. Who hasn’t enjoyed hopping in the car with some friends to hit the open road? And when that road is unique and interesting, it makes the journey all the more fun. To helps us find more of those roads Popular Mechanics has put together a list of their selections for the 18 strangest roadways from around the world.

As you can imagine, the list, which includes photographs of each of the routes, has some crazy roads, often located in exotic locations. Take for example, the Hana Highway on Maui, Hawaii. This road made the list thanks to the stunningly beautiful views of rocky cliffs on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. But what really sets it apart is the 600 curves and 54 bridges, spread out over just 52 miles of pavement.

If you prefer the mountains to the ocean and you’re looking for something more remote for your next road trip, then consider the Karakoram Highway, which runs for 800 miles between Pakistan and China. This road winds through the Karakoram and Himalaya mountain ranges, and reaches altitudes in excess of 15,390 feet. Altitude sickness can be a legitimate concern for drivers making this drive.

A number of countries are represented on this list, including Italy, Iceland, China, Argentina, Norway, and more. Some of these streets are marvels of modern engineering, while others are primitive and basic. But they all have one thing in common, they are unique and interesting in their own way, and each of them will give you a road trip to remember.

Carnival to remove automatic tips from Australian cruises

by Katie Hammel on

In many countries around the world, tipping isn’t practiced to the extent it is in the US. Here, anything less than 15% for a restaurant server is considered an insult. We tip hotel housekeepers, valets, even the people who make our coffee. We’re used to the system of tipping to supplement a worker’s wages, but in other countries, the average tip is much lower.

American cruise lines are having some trouble reconciling the American way of tipping with attitudes and customs around gratuities in other countries. It seems that Carnival‘s Australian branch, P&O Cruises Australia, had received complaints from passengers in response to the automatic tipping policy the cruise line previously had in place, so they’ve announced that they will be removing the automatic gratuity charge added to all accounts.

Other US-based cruise lines that operate in certain countries may follow suit in reevaluating their policies to accommodate foreign customs in tipping. Royal Caribbean, which does not currently add the automatic charge, said it is working on changes to its own policy because the British who cruise on its line out of Southampton don’t tip.

[via USA Today]

Heathrow invites you to kiss under the world’s largest mistletoe

by Katie Hammel on

Remember that scene from the movie “Love Actually” that takes place in Heathrow Airport? The one where everyone is arriving and being greeted with big hugs and happy kisses from their loved ones? That may be what Heathrow really looks like now that the airport has hung the world’s largest mistletoe.

The 10X8 structure, which weighs 43kg, will hang in Terminal 5 through December (and according to the Heathrow press release), other giant mistletoe will be hung in Terminals 1, 3, and 4.

Heathrow officials expect nearly 3 million people to arrive at Heathrow in the coming month, with close to 500,000 of them coming between December 19th and December 24th alone. The airport is hoping that 2 million kisses will take place beneath the giant mistletoe this month.