A dig at the abandoned Roman city of Silchester has unearthed a bronze relic of the god of secrecy and silence: Harpocrates.

A battered and corroded thumb-sized piece of bronze has turned out to be a unique find, the earliest representation of an Egyptian deity from any site in Britain – and appropriately, after almost 2,000 years hidden in the ground, it is Harpocrates, the god of secrecy and silence.

The little figure was found at Silchester, site of an abandoned Roman city in Hampshire, in last summer’s excavation, but his identity was only revealed in months of careful conservation work. His Greek and Roman designation as Harpocrates, the god of spymasters, is actually a transcription error.

“In Egyptian mythology the figure is known as Horus, the child of Isis and Osiris,” said Professor Mike Fulford of the University of Reading, director of the Silchester excavation. “He is often shown with his finger in his mouth, a gesture that in Egypt represented the hieroglyph for his name, but was misinterpreted by the Greeks and Romans, resulting in his adoption as the god of silence and secrecy.”

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A Roman town has been found in Sofia, Bulgaria, including a Roman palace, baths and burial sites, as well as a 13th century church. [Thx Frank!]

Archaeologists believe the site – which formed the intersection of the two major streets of the ancient Roman town Ulpia Sedica – could prove even more extensive, with at least two more Roman palaces waiting to be uncovered.

Debate has raged for years over the fate of the site as the excavations notably proved a major headache for plans to extend the Sofia underground, with a major station situated right below the historical site.

But the authorities finally opted to preserve the remains where they were.

The total cost of the ambitious project, which will entail a complete reconstruction of central Sofia and is scheduled to be finished in 2011/2012, is an estimated $12m.

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An Italian farmer who owns the land a Roman aqueduct was discovered on is damaging the site by digging for treasure.

In January father and son team Edward and Michael O’Neill discovered the headwaters of the aqueduct, which was built by the Emperor Trajan, hidden beneath a crumbling 13th century church north of Rome.

A sophisticated example of Roman hydraulic engineering, the aqueduct, known as the Aqua Traiana, was inaugurated in 109AD and carried fresh water 35 miles to the imperial capital.

But since the discovery was publicised, the archeologists claim that the farmer on whose land it stands has begun a crude excavation of the site in the hope of finding valuable Roman treasure.

They claim to have photographic evidence that the owner has burned vegetation around the entrance to the underground grotto, cut down mature fig trees which are holding the fragile structure together with their thick roots and started to dismantle sections of masonry.

“It’s a complete tragedy,” Edward O’Neill told the Daily Telegraph. “He’s doing some kind of treasure hunt.

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Archaeologists excavating the Rochester Cathedral in Kent, England’s second-oldest cathedral, to conserve a Roman city wall were surprised when they came across evidence of a medieval building they didn’t know existed.

While digging exploratory pits, experts came across a medieval structure believed to be a window or a door of a building not discovered before.

It is hoped the find could provide information about how the whole area functioned more than 600 years ago.

Archaeologist Graham Keevil said: “We know about the cathedral and the way that developed.

“We know a bit about the cloister where the monks who worked in the cathedral went about their everyday lives.

“But everything else that goes on in the precinct we really do not know very much about.

“So to get a major building like this, even from such a relatively small pit, the implications of that window or door are massive in terms of then our understanding of the entire precinct.”

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Tourists visiting Rome will soon be allowed underneath the Colloseum to see where Gladiators prepared for fights and where the animals they fought were caged.

Tourists will soon be able to visit the underground of the Colosseum, where gladiators once prepared for fights and lions and tigers were caged before entertaining a bloodthirsty public.

Rome culture officials said Wednesday that, after several months of work to make the area safe for visits, the public will be allowed to add the underground section to tours of the arena starting in late summer. No exact date has been set.

Architect Barbara Nazzaro told Associated Press Television News that tourists will be able to see the spaces where lions, tigers and bulls were kept in cages before they were hoisted on elevators to ground level for entertainment in the ancient arena.

Elephants were too heavy for the rope-hoisted elevators. They made their grand entrance into the Colosseum through main gates.

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