Scientists use plants to date Egypt's pharaohs

"Scientists have established for the first time clear dates for the ruling dynasties of ancient Egypt after carbon dating plant remains, according to research published Thursday.

The results will force historians to revise their records for the two millennia when ancient Egypt dominated the Mediterranean world and hopefully end debate once and for all between rival Egyptologists..."

(End a debate between historians, yeah right!)

The mystery of Caravaggio's death solved at last – painting killed him

"He killed a man, brawled constantly, rowed with patrons and fled justice while revolutionising painting with his chiaroscuro style. Now, as if to underline how dramatic Caravaggio's short life was, researchers say he may have quite literally died for his art.

Scientists seeking to shed light on the mysterious death of the Italian artist in 1610 said they are "85% sure" they have found his bones thanks to carbon dating and DNA checks on remains excavated in Tuscany.

Caravaggio's suspected bones come complete with levels of lead high enough to have driven the painter mad and helped finish him off..."

German cathedral bones 'are Saxon queen Eadgyth'

"Scientists are to announce that bones found in a German cathedral are those of one of the earliest members of the English royal family.

The remains of Queen Eadgyth, who died in 946, were excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008..."

Lost John Ford movie unearthed in New Zealand

"An extraordinary collection of 75 early American films, including several that had been considered lost to history, have been discovered in New Zealand and are being returned to the US.

The cache includes the only copy believed to exist of a late silent movie by one of the giants of American film-making, John Ford, as well as several works produced between 1910 and 1920 starring important female actors such as Clara Bow and Mabel Normand..."

Talking of movies recent family history research by my Uncle indicates that i could be related to Cary Grant. Personally i am sceptical but it would be nice if it was true!

Bring on the history revolution in schools

Geoffery Alderman writes : "Overshadowed by other events both national and international, the announcement at the Guardian Hay festival by education secretary Michael Gove that there is to be a review of the school history curriculum deserves widespread applause.

It is a long time since my own children were at secondary school, and since I served as a GCE A-level history examiner – and indeed as a chief examiner, setting the questions as well as overseeing the grades. But I have deliberately maintained a watching brief on developments in the school history curriculum, not least because I teach university students who have followed this curriculum prior to starting a degree programme..."

Scars from lion bite suggest headless Romans found in York were gladiators

"The haunting mystery of Britain's headless Romans may have been solved at last, thanks to scars from a lion's bite and hammer marks on decapitated skulls.

The results of forensic work, announced today, on more than 80 skeletons of well-built young men, gradually exhumed from the gardens of a York terrace over a decade, suggests that the world's best-preserved gladiator graveyard has been found..."

Locating the graves of ancestors

Today i went to Witton Cemetery in Birmingham to help my Mum and Uncle find a couple of graves. One was of their oldest brother Roderick Grant who died in 1935 while still a child and the other that of one of their grandmothers.

They had not visited the site for decades and had no idea where the graves were but thankfully the staff at the cemetery were able to quickly tell us roughly where the graves were located. It was still not the easiest thing in the world though to find the graves. Although every grave plot is numbered the number is only displayed in a headstone and not all headstones have a visible number. A lot of graves are not marked by any headstone including that of Roderick's. Luckily the grave next to Roderick's was numbered so we could find were he was. In the photo below he is under on the right.

We think my great-grandfather Stephen Morris was buried here too though will need to get the cemetery staff to look up for us, they said there was someone else buried in the plot. The next grave to look for was that of my great-grand mother Rose Eleanor Grant and that was much easier to find (once we knew what to look for). Like Roderick's her grave is unmarked.

I also managed to get my hands on a family tree for the Grants which will very useful for continuing family research (well just on loan but i will get it copied).