Richard III Inn Redone Using 3D Printer

This 3D printing is getting quite remarkable.

A group of archaeologists have put their 3D printer to use cranking out parts of a model of a building that they think might have been used for a night by the famous Richard III, he of the "My kingdom for a horse" fame.

Seems a 19th Century architect left a notebook with a very detailed drawing of the Blue Boar Inn, where Richard stayed the night before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry VII's Yorks carried the day, won the Wars of the Roses, and created the Tudor line. Richard met his end that day.

The University of Leicester archaeologists got to work and turned the 19th Century drawings, which included measurements and descriptions of the tiniest detail, into 21st Century three-dimensional walls and roof, with a bit of CAD modeling thrown in in the middle.

Now that the model is complete, the reconstructers can get on to building the real thing.

Carvings Show Egypt's 1st King

Recently rediscovered carvings show scenes from the reign of Egypt's first king.

The carvings, recorded in 1890s and rediscovered in 2008, show a figure wearing a white crown and traveling in a ceremonial procession and on a sickle-shaped boat, accompanied by representations of falcons and bulls. Most importantly, researchers have dated the carvings to between 3200 B.C. and 3100 B.C., which would have been during the reign of Narmer, who united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt into one nation.

The seven carvings, made in and around the village of Nag el-Hamdulab, clearly show a pharaoh and, in one instance, illustrate a tax collection campaign. Another carving shows what looks to be the brewing and drinking of beer, which would point to a festival that could have been associated with pharaoh recognition.

Other carvings illustrate the herding of animals, including not only pedestrian cattle but also beasts that are part-lion.

The research appears in the December issue of Antiquity.

Oldest-known Settlement Found in Bulgaria

It looks like a group of Hobbit-holes, except that it's way, way older than that.

Archaeologists working in Bulgaria have unearthed the oldest prehistoric town yet found on the European continent. The current estimate is that the structures go back as far as 4700 B.C. For those keeping score at home, that's more than a century and a half before those folks we call the Greeks got around to organizing themselves into city-states.

The settlement, named Solnitsata, is near the modern town of Provadia and has certainly proved itself to be a treasure trove, of more than one variety. About 40 years ago and not too far away, archaeologists found a huge hoard of golden objects, the oldest found anywhere, near a town called Varna.

Gold is certainly valuable today and would have been back then as well. But what the recent expedition has discovered at Provadia that would have been far more valuable back then is evidence of a large local salt supply.

Since the dawn of civilization, people have used salt as a preservative, most notably for food, and as a soothing additive to hot water for a restorative bath. Salt was for thousands of years a sought-after commodity. Roman soldiers were at one time paid in salt. (Indeed, the word salary comes from the word salt.)

Archaeologists also unearthed impressive reinforced houses and a stone wall, suggesting that the Solnitsatians went to some length to protect their salt stash.

Other expeditions have unearthed similar salt mines in nearby areas, near known copper and gold mines.

CT Scans Reveal 'Faces' of Mummies

Modern technology has revealed the faces of four people embalmed 2,000 years ago.

A group of New York scientists combined CT scans and the artwork of a crime artist to create sketches of the faces of those embalmed. Then, the scientists compared the new sketches to the portraits that were stored next to the mummies. In two of the four cases, the matches were nearly exact.

The artist, who knew only the age and gender of the deceased, took seven days to produce each sketch. The sketches of the two mummies from the British Museum matched their portraits almost exactly. The other two mummies, one from the Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen and the other from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, didn't fare so well in the portrait-matching department. Still, they weren't far away.

The art historians involved will be happy to have some evidence that portrait production was more about realism in the 1st Century A.D.

The relative success of the sketching suggests more uses for modern technology.

Study: Alexandria City Design Followed the Sun

Leave it to Alexander to bring the Aten into it.

The Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria was built so that the main road aligned with the rising Sun on Alexander's birthday, according to a study out of Italy. The study, which was reported in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, quoted computer simulation data that reinforced the idea that the Canopic Road, the city's main east-west road, was so oriented on July 20, the day of Alexander's birth.

Using sophisticated equipment and calculations, a team led by Milan archaeoastronomer Giulio Magli found that in the fourth century B.C., the Sun rose less than half a degree off the direction of the road. (Alexander was born in 356 B.C., and he founded Alexandria in 331 B.C.) The study also found that a second star, Regulus, would have risen in the same part of the sky at about the same time on that date. Incorporating Regulus, known as the "King's Star," would have been a nice touch for Alexander and his city planners.

Using the Sun as an architectural tool would have been nothing new to the Egyptians, who often cited Ra (or, in Akhenaten's terms, the Aten) as inspiration for all manner of things, including rulers and their grand buildings. That Alexander chose to do so would have been entirely in keeping with his status as the new pharaoh of Egypt.

Cat's Grotto Hideaway an Ancient Tomb

In a story of the living and the dead, two Romans followed a cat into a grotto and discovered a 2,000-year-old tomb. This happened not many years ago but mere days ago.

Seems the men found a cat in a residential area near one of the city's main streets and then, when the cat disappeared into a grotto, followed it inside. What they found was human bones in various places on the floor and niches on the walls similar to what ancient Romans used to hold funeral urns.

Sure enough, archaeologists arriving at the scene later confirmed the discovery of a burial chamber, dating from between the 1st Century B.C. and the 2nd Century A.D. The bones, the archaeologists said, probably fell from a higher spot.

As to why the tomb hadn't been discovered before, the theory is that recent heavy rains have caused erosion that sheared away what had been rocks that, intentionally or not, had concealed the chamber.

What to call the newly found chamber? A cat - a - comb, of course.

Bonnie & Clyde Guns Bound Together at Auction

Their owners were lovers and partners, and their guns stay together as well.

They are Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Their guns survive them as a pair, thanks to an anonymous Texas collector who paid a collective $504,000 for the two pistols sold at a New Hampshire auction.

Barrow was 25 and Parker 23 when they were killed in 1934, the result of a two-year manhunt following a multi-state crime spree involving killings, kidnappings, bank robberies, auto thefts, and a prison break. A combination of Louisiana police and Texas Rangers found Bonnie and Clyde in a northern Louisiana hideout, and the following firefight left the outlaws dead.

The two were lovers, and their story captured the popular imagination for a time during the Great Depression. But it's the tangible things they left behind that were on display at auction.

Parker's gun, a .38 special that was found taped to the inside of her thigh, brought in $264,000, slightly more than the $240,000 paid for Barrow's gun, a Colt .45 that was found in his waistband.

The guns came from the collection of another memorabilia enthusiast, who bought them for about $100,000 total in 1986.

Other items sold at this most recent auction included Barrow's gold pocket watch ($36,000), a silver dollar taken from his pocket ($32,400), and one of Parker's silk stockings ($11,400).