Napoleon's boots up for grabs

A pair of boots thought to belong to Napoleon Bonaparte is expected to fetch up to 80,000 euros. ($88,176) Auctioneers said Napoleon may have owned the leather riding boots during his final exile in Saint Helena, after his defeat at Waterloo.

Hoard of golden Russian rubles found

Treasure dating back to the reign of Tsar Nicholas II has been unearthed in Moscow. A tin chest containing 60 gold coins was discovered in the basement of a dilapidated building. Experts believe the trove may have been stored there during the Russian Revolution (March - November 1917) or the Russian Civil War (November 1917 - October 1922). Nicholas and his family – Tsarina Alexandra, Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, Grand Duchess Maria, Grand Duchess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei – were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The Salvation of Rome: Gordian III

Rome in the third century was a time of turmoil and encroaching chaos. Gordian III assumed the throne in 238 CE at the age of 13, making him the youngest de facto emperor in Roman history. Gordian served for almost six years before dying under mysterious circumstances while fighting against the Sassanian Persians. He was succeeded by his by-then praetorian prefect, Philip the Arab. The Latin word “aureus” means “golden”, and derives from the Roman word for gold: aurum. The aureus was originally produced in the first century BCE and was still being struck in the fourth century CE. It was initially valued at 25 silver denarii.

Ancient Helmets

Flattened copper helmet and skull found in the Royal Tomb at Ur

The most vulnerable part of the soldier in battle was his head, so the search for protection by some form of helmet goes back to the earliest times. Helmets were purpose-built to protect the wearer against the specific weapons he faced. At first, ancient helmets seem to have been pointed at the top, to deflect the downward force. When the ax became popular as a weapon, the shape of the helmet was modified to counter the cutting edge of a downward-falling blade.

Stele of Vultures circa 2500 BC. King Eannatum of Lagash leads a phalanx of soldiers with metal helmets, armed with spears and socketed axes. They are trampling over the bodies of their enemies.

The technology of armor was constantly evolving. By 3,000 BC metal workers were making helmets of copper. 500 years later the Sumerians had bronze helmets, spears and axes.

Egyptian soldier in the act of killing a warrior of the 'Sea Peoples' in the Medinet Habu temple relief

Corinthian helmet

The Helmet of Agighiol is a Geto-Dacian silver helmet dating from the 5th century BC.

Sutton Hoo helmet reconstructed

The Golden Helmet of Coţofeneşti

This 2,600-year-old bronze helmet was discovered in the waters of Haifa Bay, Israel in 2012. When it was made Greek colonies dotted the Mediterranean coast, stretching from the Black Sea to southern France. This warrior was likely one of Egyptian pharaoh Necho II's mercenaries, which he sent through Israel accompanied by a fleet of ancient ships. The pharaoh was involved in military campaigns in the region for nearly a decade, operations in which this warrior and his group likely were involved.

Ancient Greek helmets from the Archaic period (800 BC – 480 BCE). A Corinthian-type, found in Leivadia. The second is a Illyrian-type. The third is from Agia Paraskevi. All are made of bronze.

The Crosby Garrett Helmet is a copper alloy Roman cavalry helmet dating from the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. It was found in Cumbria, England

Bronze Helmet from Ancient Greece, around 460 BC

Roman horseman's helmet, found in the Netherlands

Gladiator helmet

Greek Spartan Crest Helmet

Spanish morion (helmet)

Helmet covered in heavy gold florets with spike top, visor front. Chou Dynasty, Emperor Wu Wang tomb complex at Laoyang, circa 1020 BC. Japanese helmet, circa 1590–1640.

Helmet of a Yuan Dynasty officer Chinese chichak-style helmet, Ming Dynasty

Helmet from 7th century Viking boat grave

A common myth about the Vikings was that they wore horned helmets in battle. Archaeologists have found no proof to say that their helmets had horns. The reason their helmets didn't have horns was because they would have gotten in the way in battles and may have ended up injuring the wearer. Real Viking helmets had protective metal down and around the ears and some helmets found in burial mounts had a metal mask in front.

German helmet by famous armorsmith Jörg Seusenhofer ca. 1540

Gigantopithecus blacki

In 1935, anthropologist Gustav von Koenigswald came across several strange teeth in drug stores in Hong Kong and southern China. Sold as “dragon teeth,” and ground up for use in Chinese medicine, they were special: They were apelike, but huge. Their size suggested that Gigantopithecus blacki was the largest primate ever discovered, towering 3 meters. By piecing together clues from proteins in the enamel of a 1.9myo tooth found in southern China, researchers have evidence that places G. blacki on the primate family tree. The giant ape was most closely related to orangutans. The two lineages probably split off between 10 million and 12 million years ago.

G. blacki became extinct around 100,000 years ago.

Adult male G. blacki are believed to have stood almost 10 feet tall and weighed as much as 600kg, making it three to four times as heavy as modern gorillas and eight times as heavy as the orangutan, its closest living relative. It's thought G. blacki consumed bamboo and other vegetable foods including seeds and fruit. Gigantopithecus blacki is the largest known hominid.

Assyrian Empire collapsed due to climate change

Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now Iraq and Syria. At its height, the Assyrian state stretched from the Mediterranean and Egypt in the west to the Persian Gulf and western Iran in the east. Then a reversal of fortune, and the Neo-Assyrian Empire plummeted from its zenith (circa 650 BC) to complete collapse within the span of a few decades. The reasons why were a mystery. New research shows that climate change was the double-edged sword that first helped the meteoric rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then lead to its precipitous collapse.

Rainfall patterns over Mesopotamia were deduced from cave stalagmites. These are the cone-like structures from the cave floor. They grow slowly, as rainwater drips down from the cave ceiling. Oxygen isotope ratios build a timeline of how conditions changed, but don't reveal the amount of time that elapsed between them. Stalagmites also trap uranium. Over time, uranium decays into thorium at a predictable pace. Experts made high-precision uranium-thorium measurements. The Neo-Assyrian state expanded during a 200 year interval of anomalously wet climate. This was followed by major droughts in the early-to-mid-seventh century BC. The period marked the swift collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Repeated crop failures likely exacerbated political unrest in Assyria, crippled its economy and empowered adjacent rivals.

12,000 yo lake toasted in failed treasure hunt for Roman gold

A 12,000-year-old lake is gone after a team of treasure hunters carried out an authorized excavation to unearth an ancient trove in Turkey's northern Gümüşhane province. Located in the Taşköprü Plateau, Lake Dipsiz (Bottomless) was drained after an application to the Gümüşhane Governor's Office to carry out an excavation. The governor and the Gümüşhane Culture and Tourism Directorate both authorized the controversial excavation.

No gold was found and the excavation was stopped after four days. The treasure hunters were trying to find gold of the 15th Apollinaris Legion (Legio XV Apollinaris), which was one of the four largest military units of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor. It was recruited by Octavian (Augustus) in 41/40 BC. The legion was stationed in the area around 134. Dating back to the last ice age, Lake Dipsiz does not have a source of water.