Brian Haughton.com

I have just signed the contract for my new book to be titled Ancient Treasure.

Why are so many people fascinated by treasure? Is it purely a desire for wealth or is it also the romantic appeal of tales of lost ancient artefacts? Indeed the stories behind certain treasures, especially those looted from their archaeological context, read like a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. Such a case is Sevso Treasure, a hoard of 14 large silver vessels from the late Roman Empire, estimated to be worth $200 million on today’s market. Looted from an unknown Roman palace in the 1970s the story of these ‘cursed’ pieces as some researchers have called them, involves at least one possible murder, shady consortiums, allegations of forgery, and back market double-dealing. Or the celebrated Amber Room, a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, stolen by the Nazis in 1941 from the Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, near Saint Petersburg, and brought to the castle at Königsberg (modernKaliningradin Russia) from where it disappeared, though rumours persist that it still survives today as a part of the Nazi loot known as the Štěchovice Treasure. This book is about such ancient treasures and the astonishing stories behind them.

In March of this year I did a 2-hour interview at the Rotunda, Birmingham (UK) for a History Channel documentary about the rise and fall of ancient civilizations. The show is called CIVILIZATION LOST and will air on the History Channel’s new network H2 this Sunday December 11 at 9pm in the US, after which it will be available on DVD. Should be interesting.

The prehistoric group of monuments known as the Rollright Stones possess their own unique atmosphere, and have attracted a wealth of supernatural folklore over the centuries involving witches, fairies, invading ‘Danes’, and the famous prophetess Mother Shipton. Read more >>

‘Crystal skulls’ are enigmatic and controversial objects. Believed by some to be ancient artifacts with extraordinary magical and healing properties, and dismissed by others as relatively modern forgeries, there is no agreement about their origins. Read more >>

I have just started a new Facebook author page. ‘Like’ the page and get access to updates about my books and articles, photos, archaeology news and more. You can also access my Facebook author page from the link in the right margin of this page. Thanks in advance for your support!

Last Wednesday (16th March) I did a 2-hour interview at the Rotunda, Birmingham (UK) for a History Channel documentary about the rise and fall of ancient civilizations. The show is called ‘Civilization Lost’ and will air on the History Channel in December in the US, after which it will be available on DVD. Should be interesting.

The Nebra Sky Disc is one of the most fascinating, and some would say controversial, archaeological finds of recent years. Dated to 1600 BC, this bronze disc is patinated blue-green and embossed with gold leaf symbols which appear to represent a crecent moon, the sun (or perhaps a full moon), stars, a curved gold band, interpreted as a sun boat Read more >>

At Easter 1900, a group of Greek sponge fishermen were fishing off the coast of the tiny, rocky island of Antikythera, between the southern Greek mainland and Crete. Surfacing after one of his descents, Elias Stadiatos babbled something about a ‘heap of dead naked women’ on the sea bed. Read more >>

Once the largest library in the ancient world, and containing works by the greatest thinkers and writers of antiquity, including Homer, Plato, Socrates and many more, the Library of Alexandria, northern Egypt, is popularly believed to have been destroyed in a huge fire around 2000 years ago and its volumous works lost. Read more >>

“Those of you who saw the movies Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull or The Mummy 3, know that they had some fantastical stories of ancient cultures, magical places, and locations in the world . . . What if you were to find that many of these weren’t fiction but based on a retelling of past events? Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places is a book that explores these very things. Written in 2008, you get a current look at the history and lore of earth’s sacred ground”. Read more >>