This traditional portrait of Athanasius Kircher gives his age as 76. The engraver has emphasized the energy in Kircher’s inquiring eyes. A professor of eloquence in Rome added the flowery inscription: “The painter or poet would declare only in error: ‘This is the man.’ But the farthest Antipodes know his name and face.”

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One of the world’s oldest shipwrecks has been discovered off the coast of Devon after lying on the sea bed for almost 3000 years.

The trading vessel was carrying an extremely valuable cargo of tin and hundreds of copper ingots from the Continent when it sank.

Experts say the ”incredibly exciting” discovery provides new evidence about the extent and sophistication of Britain’s links with Europe in the Bronze Age, and reveals the remarkable seafaring abilities of the people during the period.

Archaeologists have described the vessel, which is thought to date back to about 900BC, as being a ”bulk carrier” of its age. The copper and tin would have been used for making bronze, the primary product of the period which was used in the manufacture of weapons, tools, jewellery, ornaments and other items.

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Archaeologists from Berkshire, UK, have discovered evidence of an Iron Age town underneath the remains of a Roman settlement in north Hampshire, which they say could be Britain’s earliest Iron Age towns with a planned layout.

The discovery was made by the University of Reading’s Archaeology Department, which has been excavating at the Silchester Roman site, Calleva Atrebatum, since 1997.

A street-grid was found to have been in place before the Romans came in AD 43. Archaeologists have also discovered evidence of widespread burning at the site.

They believe this, along with other finds, suggests that the site could have been destroyed at the hands of queen Boudicca, who in AD 60/61 led a major uprising against the occupying Roman forces.

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