Dig It: Diary of an Archaeological Tourist Quiz

Answer: Angkor Archaeological Park

Dear Diary, I am awed by the magnificence of this place. Standing amidst thick forests are buildings of remarkable beauty and impressive architectural accomplishment. They were constructed between the ninth and fifteenth centuries and show a gradual change in both the layout and materials used.

The earliest complex was surrounded by defensive ground works, the temple was of stone while the palace was a wooden structure. The last capital, Angkor Thorn was built under Jayavarman VII which included the enormous Banyon temple and Angor Wat, since 1992 a World Heritage site. Over a thousand temples can be seen today ranging from small ruins to Angor Wat, which I have to describe as a stupendous work of art as well as architecture.

The smooth stone walls, which rise in five lotus shaped towers into the sky, are covered in representations of scenes from the the Hindu stories, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

It will be hard to top this experience.

Answer: Lascaux Caves

Dear Diary, My research tells me that this system was discovered in September 1940 by four teenagers and one dog. The caves contain wall paintings that show animals that would have lived in the region at the time they were done, some 17,000 years ago.

After World War II the caves were opened to the public, but the vast number of visitors meant that the paintings were suffering damage. To protect them access has been strictly limited to scientists only and even then only for short time periods. Visitors to the caves can see perfect reproductions of the paintings from two of the caves at a nearby complex, and more images can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art.

Answer: Fishbourne Roman Palace

Dear Diary, I am surprised to find that this is another site discovered by accident. Although the presence of Roman remains in the area was well known, as it is in much of Britain, it was not until 1960, when workmen laying a water pipe stumbled across the site, that Fishbourne was fully excavated.

The site is vast and is thought to cover an area around the size of Buckingham Palace. This, plus the quality of the mosaics found, indicate that this was the home of someone very important. The mosaics have been left in situ and are protected by a purpose-built building so they can be viewed easily without any damage being done to them.

Answer: Knossos

Dear Diary,
This is a very exciting site, because it is here that legends seem to come to life. Knossos, on Crete, was first discovered and partially excavated in 1878. It is the largest Bronze Age settlement on Crete, and is believed to be the place referred to in the legend of Theseus entering the labyrinth and killing the minotaur. In 1900 the whole site was purchased by Sir Arthur Evans. He arranged for a team of first class archaeologists to complete the excavations.

Answer: Turkey

Dear Diary,
Neither completely Asian or completely European, Ephesus is the largest Roman site in the Eastern Mediterranean, but habitation here predates Roman times. Bronze Age remains have been found and there appears to be a continuous history of occupation from prehistoric through to Roman times. It was famous for the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and some believe that the Gospel of John may have been written here. It was also one of the seven churches of Asia referred to in the Book of Revelation.

Answer: Stone figures

Dear Diary, This place is spooky. Rather like the Easter Island figures no one knows who created the stone figures at San Agustin, or why. They are beautifully carved and show people and animals, such as jaguars, birds and snakes. Some reach around fifteen feet high. All the human ones have individual faces. Studying similar figures around the world the best belief is that they are talismans of some sort, and possibly their creators believed them to be endowed with magical powers.

There is no local folklore about either the figures or the people who created them, and no archaeological clues either.

Answer: Terracotta Warriors

Dear Diary, I had seen an exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors but seeing them in situ was quite different. The huge hall was filled not only with soldiers of various ranks, including charioteers and horses, to guard Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BC - 210 BC) in his afterlife but there are also troupes of acrobats, clowns and other performers for his entertainment as well as officials to serve him. Each statue is unique.

Originally all were painted to be even more lifelike but little colour is visible now.

Other structures, almost a small city, were also built to for his use. Qin Shi Huang arranged for building to start when he became Emperor at the age of thirteen. According to an ancient historian who lived just after that time it involved 700,000 workers.

The site was discovered in 1974 by some farmers who were digging to make a well. It has since become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer: Barabar Caves

Dear Diary,
It was interesting to visit a site from literature and I tried to capture the feelings of Forster's heroine but did not succeed. There are four caves cut into Barabar Hill. They were constructed in the third century BC and were used by the Ajivika, an ascetic sect, related to both Buddhism and Jainism, for worship. Each of the four caves are different, but all have the Mauryan style architecture that prevailed at that time. They contain both Buddhist and Hindu carvings.

Answer: Troy

Dear Diary, The thrilling story of Troy and its war with Greece has come down to us through Homer's work "The Illiad". It was a strange experience to stand on the plain where, many thousands of years ago, men from Asia and Greece fought to the death.

Many had thought that Troy was only a legend but ruins were discovered on the site where Troy was thought to have existed, several miles from the sea in western Turkey, in 1822 by Charles McLaren. Heinrich Schliemann did extensive excavations on the site in the 1860s and is still regarded by the Turks as less of an archaeologist than a treasure hunter and looter. Attempts are being made to get back the stolen treasures from Germany and Russia. Schliemann's diggings found that there had been a series of cities on the site and that at the lowest level is consistent with the legend.

After Troy was destroyed by Greece, probably in a trade war, it was abandoned for hundreds of years until Alexander the Great built a settlement there and in about 188BC the Romans accepted that this was the site of their mother city and named it New Ilium. Today, a German and American international archaeological team are attempting to restore a facsimile of life in Troy during the Bronze Age.

It is an important World Heritage site as it shows an early stage of the development of western civilistation.

Answer: Carthage

Dear Diary, Standing on the ruins of ancient Carthage as the sun is setting I can hear Cato's ominous words and I am chilled. Carthage was built by the Phoenicians, a great trading nation in the Mediterranean, in the ninth century BC. It was located on the north coast of Africa near the modern city of Tunis.

It was a powerful and wealthy city and as Rome grew from an agricultural state to one that sought to expand, the Roman leaders decided that it was necessary to reduce Carthage's power. In the first Punic War Rome took Carthage's settlements in Sicily. Under the great Carthaginian general, Hannibal, an attempt was made to redress this victory and he defeated the Roman army at Cannae and occupied much of the Italian peninsula for fifteen years.

He was forced to return home to defend his city where the Romans had launched an attack. He was defeated at the Battle of Zama where the Roman general, Scipio Africanus, used his own tactics against him. Carthage was forced to pay huge indemnities to Rome, but it still controlled the trade routes from the eastern to the western Mediterranean and became a rich important city again.

It was decided that Carthage must be destroyed and its fields sown with salt so that it could never revive. All the libraries and every document was destroyed so that today all we know of the Carthaginian society come from Roman sources. Today a tourist only can see the remains of Roman occupation in the area, from when it was used as a settlement for retired soldiers, but an expedition by the University of Amsterdam in the 2000/2001 season located a few Carthaginian houses from about the fifth century BC. The team thought that there had been a system of radial roads rotating out from the summit of the Byrsa hill. Another interesting place to visit is the Cathedral of St Louis which was built in the 19th century on the spot that Louis IX is reputed to have died due to illness while on a Crusade in 1270.