Very interesting feature on the work of conservators at the Walters Museum:

• Walters staff restores the 2,000-year-old Garland Sarcophagus | Baltimore Sun.

Not sure if we’ve ever mentioned this site before:

The archaeological excavations of the Roman fortress Sexaginta Prista, located near the city of Ruse in north-central Bulgaria, will continue during the summer of 2010 into previously unexplored parts.

The archaeologists Varbin Varbanov and Deyan Dragoev this summer will study the area to the north of the temple of Apollo, which was discovered in 2006.

During last year’s excavation season, archaeologists found fragments of Celtic ceramics, which proved the Celtic presence in the region. Overall, in 2009, 25 square metres of the Sexaginta Prista Fortress were excavated.

Other artefacts discovered at the site so far include Roman coins from the first to the fourth centuries and ceramic vessels.

The site’s layers suggest several eras of its developments: the earliest one is of a Thracian pit sanctuary from the first century BC to the first century AD, covered by the Apollo Temple, which dates to the second to the third centuries AD, covered by a well-preserved layer from the beginning of the fourth century, when military headquarters were built there.

via Bulgaria: Archaeology Excavations at Sexaginta Prista Fortress Expand | Balkan Travellers.

Interesting opeddish sort of thing from the Times … sort of in the Jonathan Shay category:

• A Crack in the Stoic’s Armor | NYTimes.com.

Tip o’ the pileus to Arthur Shippee and Diana Wright for passing this along …

And again, alas, a Canadian company is behind it … here’s the incipit with the salient bits:

A Transylvanian gold mine project which critics say threatens the environment and an ancient Roman temple was approved for development by the Romanian government on Friday.

Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely said his ministry will clear the construction of two dams by Canadian mining company Rosia Montana Gold Corp. to extract gold from ore. The ministry had rejected the plans in 2007 on safety grounds, but the company filed a lawsuit and a court recently ruled in its favor.

The company still needs to get various permits from water and environment authorities before it can go ahead with the mining project.

President Traian Basescu and the government support the project, which has been bitterly opposed by civil groups, historians and archaeologists, and some politicians. Romania’s economy is a in a deep recession and can use any new investments.

Critics say the mine could pollute streams and rivers in case of an accident, pointing out that a cyanide leak at a Romanian gold mine in 2000 killed much of the aquatic life in the Tisza River, a tributary of the Danube River, which runs also through Hungary. They also say the mine would damage a Roman temple and other monuments uncovered in the area.

via Controversial gold mine in Romania gets go-ahead – BusinessWeek.

For comparanda:

• Roman Gold Mine in Spain

… there’s a couple of others, but I can’t seem to locate them right now …