Excavations at Heraion-Teikhos in western Turkey have turned up a Thracian temple at the city’s acropolis.

The temple, belonging to the ancient Thracian civilization, was thought to have disappeared in a fire that occurred in 2 BC. The continuing work at the temple has revealed many interesting artworks thus far, the excavation chairwoman says.

Many important pieces of art have reportedly been unearthed in the northwestern province of Tekirda? in a temple previously thought to have been destroyed in a fire in 2 B.C.

The ongoing excavations in the pantheon of the ancient city of Heraion-Teikhos in Tekirda?’s Karaevlialt? district started this year at the beginning of August, according to the excavation chairwoman, Professor Ne?e Atik from Ahi Evran University’s archaeology department.

The excavations, which have been conducted since 2000, have unearthed the ancient Thracian civilization for the first time, Atik said, adding that a team of 40 people, including workers, students, archaeologists and anthropologists, was carrying out the work.

She said that they were working to uncover the temple at the acropolis (the highest hill) of the city. “According to the data we have, we thought that the temple burned down in a fire. We have so far removed statues of gods including Kybele, Eros and Aphrodite as well as bronze coins, amphora and similar pieces from the temple,” she said.

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Inscriptions dating back to the Pandya and Nayak periods have been found in an ancient temple in southern India.

The inscriptions date back to the period of Sundara Pandiyan (1212-1239), Jatavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan-II (1237AD)-to Veerapandiyan (1253-74) and Nayak period (1782AD) said a team of epigraphists who recently found the etchings on the tank bund of the ancient temple in Vellanchar village. The Inscriptions also mention about a piece of land gifted to the temple by merchants,farmers and temple employees. Raja Mohammed,President, Pudukottai Historical Cultural Research Centre, said the two inscriptions on Jatavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan II who ruled only for two years,throws light on how erudite members of his court and cabinet were. Jatavarnam Kulasekara Pandiyan II ruled the area along with some other Pandiya rulers as per the inscriptions. The name of the temple,according to the inscription, was “Kulothunga Choliswaram”-and the presiding deity Kulothunga Choliswara Mudaya Nayanar(Shiva).

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Neglect has caused damage over time to the murals of the Veetrirundha Perumal temple in India, which dates back to 850 A.D. Now the temple is set to be restored.

From the ground below, it is not visible. As you clamber up what looks like a tall mound, the villagers caution you. For the entire place is overgrown with dense bushes and there are depressions, quite deep, hidden by vegetation. When you pause, the skeletal remains of what looks a temple vimana suddenly looms up. The tall structure, built entirely of bricks, looks forlorn, blanketed by vegetation all round. As one gingerly steps inside, bats fly out and the stench is overpowering. Someone cautions about the presence of snakes. Darkness prevails in the sanctum where there is no deity. As a villager focuses his torch-light on the inner walls, traces of layers of what must have been wonderful murals, painted centuries ago, come into view. While the innermost layer has murals of the Pallava period datable to circa 850 A.D., above it is the layer of beautiful frescoes of the Raja Raja Chola (regnal years 985 to 1014 A.D.). Obscuring these Chola frescoes is the topmost layer of murals of circa 1520 A.D. of Krishnadeva Raya of the Vijayanagara period.

This is Veetrirundha Perumal temple (of Vishnu in a seated pose) at Veppathur village, near Tiruvidaimaruthur, about 35 km from Thanjavur. What is extraordinary about the temple is that it is the only temple in south India that has murals of three dynasties – the Pallava, the Chola and the Vijayanagara. But the heartbreaking reality is that like the sanctum and the vimana (the tower above the sanctum) which are totally in ruins, these murals exist today only in flakes, which are falling off too. The good news is that the temple itself will be restored to its original grandeur, thanks to the bold initiative of REACH Foundation, led by T. Satyamurthy, one of its founders, who was former Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

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A 6th century B.C. Greek temple-style building has been found in Italy, complete with instructions on how to put it together.

Each stone component bears identification symbols showing how they fit together, just like a bed or book case produced by the Swedish low-cost furniture manufacturer.

The symbols would have indicated to builders how “male” components fitted into “female” joints.

The coded symbols also appear on red and black decorative panels known as “cymatiums”.

“All the cymatiums and several sections of frieze also have inscriptions relating to the roof assembly system,” Massimo Osanna, the director of the archaeology department at Basilicata University, said.

“So far, around a hundred inscribed fragments have been recovered, with masculine ordinal numbers on the cymatiums and feminine ones on the friezes”.

“The characteristics of these inscriptions indicate they date back to around the 6th century BC, which tallies with the architectural evidence suggested by the decoration.”

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Fragments of a Roman sculpture showing a man’s face and torso have been found in central Macedonia.

The discoveries, found at the temple building which has been undergoing archaeological excavations, are rare and important, as they will shed light on the life of people during that period, archaeologist Silvana Blahzevska, Director of the National Institution Stobi, explained, cited by the Vecer newspaper.

“The way the hair and the face of the found head were made, as well as the appearance of the remaining part of the sculpture, suggest that it was of an emperor or an important citizen who lived in the first century,” Blazhevka stated.

Archaeologists expect that the find will help them learn more about the temple which has been continuously robbed since antiquity – about whom it was dedicated to and when it was constructed.

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