Popcorn

Popcorn is a truly ancient snack. Archaeologists have uncovered popcorn kernels that are 4,000 years old. They were so well-preserved, they could still pop. Corn, and specifically popcorn, helped lay the foundations for the Aztec empire. When you have a highly productive crop like corn, it makes the rise of higher civilizations possible.

The oldest popcorn ever found was discovered in the "Bat Cave" of central New Mexico. It is thought to be about 5,600 years old. Sometimes, conditions can preserve ancient popcorn so perfectly that it still looks fluffy and white when the dust is blown off of it. In a cave in southern Utah, researchers found surprisingly fresh-looking 1,000-year-old popcorn.

Europeans learned about popcorn from Native Americans. When Cortes invaded Mexico, and when Columbus arrived in the West Indies, each saw natives eating popcorn. Native Americans brought a bag of popped corn to the first Thanksgiving. A common way to eat popcorn at that time was to hold an oiled ear on a stick over the fire, then chew the popped kernels off it. Natives throughout the Americas also made a popcorn beer. Some made popcorn soup.

After the Spanish invaded, popcorn spread around the world, and soon people began to figure out how popcorn actually works. The rock-hard kernel — the thing that makes popcorn impossible to eat raw — is the key. "It acts as a pressure cooker," says a food scientist. The durable kernel keeps water and starch sealed inside. When a kernel is heated, the starch liquefies and the pressure builds until the seed coat breaks. A popcorn kernel is actually a seed. Like other seeds, inside it has a tiny plant embryo. The embryo is surrounded by soft, starchy material that would give the embryo energy for growing into a plant. The ideal popcorn kernel contains about 14 percent moisture. If the popcorn is too much drier, it will not pop.

China’s Ancient Treasures

Jade (nephrite) burial suit of Dou Wan from the Western Han dynasty

When the Han Dynasty princess Dou Wan died some 2,000 years ago, her corpse was encased within 2,160 small plates of solid jade. Carefully strung together with 700 grams’ worth of gold thread, the green stones formed a cocoon that conformed to the contours of her body, intended to preserve it for eternity. The jade burial suit was recovered with her husband’s in 1968 from their tombs in the northern Chinese province of Hebei.

Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties features over 160 objects on loan from 32 museums and archaeological institutions in China.

Lamp in the Shape of a Mythical Bird from the Western Han dynasty

Dog from the Eastern Han dynasty

Expensive Ancient Coins

The record holder for an ancient Greek coin is the facing portrait gold stater of Pantikapaion, which brought $3.2m in a 2012 New York auction. Pantikapaion on the Black Sea coast of Crimea grew wealthy shipping grain from Ukraine’s fields to feed Greek cities. Weighing 9.12 grams, the coin was struck between 350 and 300 BCE. On the reverse a griffin stands over an ear of wheat, surrounded by the first three letters of the town’s name. The obverse shows the bearded head of a satyr.

Syracuse Tetradrachm of Kimon. Greek cities of Sicily during the fifth century BCE brought the art of coin die engraving to levels that would not be seen again for 1300 years. Cities like Syracuse, Akragas, Leontinoi and Naxos competed to celebrate their deities on large silver ancient coins. $3m a record for a Greek silver coin.

Akragas Dekadrachm. Until it was sacked by the Carthaginians in 406 BCE, Akragas (now Agrigento) was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the Greek world. Shortly before its fall, Akragas issued a magnificent dekadrachm to honor a winner of an Olympic chariot race. $2.4m

Dekadrachm of Athens. With only around 40 genuine examples known (and many convincing fakes), the silver dekadrachm of Athens struck c. 467-465 BCE is one of the most desired ancient coins. The obverse depicts the helmeted head of the goddess Athena. The reverse shows an owl, wings outspread. At 42.5 grams, the coin is so large that it pushed the limits of hand-hammered minting. $ 850,000

Gold Stater of Athens. A handful of gold staters and fractions were struck as an emergency wartime issue in 406-407 BCE. Four examples of the 8.6 gram gold stater are known, three of them in museums. The fourth brought $ 783,000 in 2008.

Badge of Cyzicus

Coin features two dolphins encircling a Cyzicus’ tuna. The dolphins symbolize Poseidon, the god of the sea.

Cyzicus was one of the great trade cities of the ancient world. It was located on the Sea of Marmara and ruled by the Persian Empire until its capture by Alexander the Great in 334 BCE. Tuna fishing was the cornerstone of the economy of Cyzicus, becoming the defining feature of the coinage from the city.

The myth of Perseus & Medusa. An electrum stater struck around 400 BC from Cyzicus

In the first half of the sixth century BCE, the electrum staters of Cyzicus became one of the most widely recognized coins of their time. For decades, the entire trade in grain in the Black Sea Region was transacted with Cyzicus coins. Gold staters of Cyzicus were a staple currency in the ancient world until they were overtaken by those of Philip of Macedon.

Rare Sphinx of Cyzicus. Six are known.

Egypt cracks 3,000-year-old sarcophagus

Authorities in Egypt have cracked opened a newly discovered sarcophagus to unveil a more than 3,000-year-old female mummy, still perfectly preserved. The first of the two new mummies holds the remains of a priest who would have been responsible for embalming the pharaohs.

Mummies stacked together at the site of tomb TT2

The female mummy dates from the time of Tutankhamun and Ramses IICarved wooden statues and funerary figurines called “Ushabtis” made of wood, faience and clay.

Aureus with image of Augustus

In 2016 an Israeli woman hiking in the Galilee discovered an impossibly rare gold coin - only the second such coin known. The coin, dating to the year 107 CE, bears the image of the Roman Emperor Augustus, and was unearthed in northern Israel.

On the reverse are symbols of the Roman legions next to the name of the ruler Trajan, and on the obverse – instead of an image of the emperor Trajan, as was usually the case, there is the portrait of the emperor “Augustus Deified”. The coin is part of a series of coins minted by Trajan in tribute to the emperors that preceded him. The only other example known is in the British Museum.

Trajan's Column with a statue of St. Peter installed on top in Rome.

Trajan lead the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.

Historical sources say Roman soldiers were paid a high salary of three gold coins, the equivalent of 75 silver coins, each month. Due to their high monetary value, soldiers were unable to buy goods in the market as the merchants couldn't provide change. Bronze and silver coins of Trajan are common, but his gold coins are extremely rare. Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 AD until his death in 117 AD. Officially declared by the Senate optimus princeps (the best ruler), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history.

Trajan's Uniformed Army, frieze on Trajan's Column

Staffordshire Hoard Roman helmet recreated

Many of the fragments found in the famous Staffordshire Hoard come from the high-status helmet and experts have painstakingly spent the last 18 months reconstructing it for display. Thousands of 1,300 years old fragments were studied in a bid to build a picture of the original helmet.

He unearthed the £3.2 million ancient gold and silver haul in the summer of 2009.

It was almost a decade ago when one man and his metal detector uncovered the world's largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork. Terry Herbert struck the treasure of several lifetimes near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield.

Talos

In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's shores three times daily. Talos threw rocks at any approaching ship to protect his island. The origin of Talos varies. Some accounts describe him as the last survivor of an ancient race of bronze men, but the more popular versions attribute his creation to Hephaestus, god of the forge.

Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by one bronze nail. The Argo, transporting Jason and the Argonauts, approached Crete after obtaining the Golden Fleece. Talos kept the Argo at bay by hurling great boulders. Talos was slain when Medea the sorceress either drove him mad with drugs, or deceived him into believing that she would make him immortal by removing the nail. He dislodged the nail, and "the ichor ran out of him like molten lead", killing him.

5th-century BCE Greek vase depicts the death of Talos

Talos makes an appearance in the 1963 motion picture "Jason and the Argonauts" thanks to stop-motion wizardry. The film, however, cast Jason as the automaton's slayer instead of Medea.