Golden Mycenae is one of the most famous ancient towns in the
world, but how did it work? In the first of a two part feature,
David Mason takes us to Mycenae, walking along the little-known
roads to see Mycenae as the Mycenaeans saw it, with the Treasury
of Atreus carefully placed for maximum impact. Thereafter, in
the subsequent instalment, Andrew Selkirk leads us up onto the
citadel and wonders where the ordinary Myceneans lived. We
follow Mycenae with an ancient mystery: how did the Egyptians
make glass? Paul Nicholson began exploring the evidence at Tell
el-Amarna, the capital of the ‘heretic pharaoh’ Akhenaten
(1352-1336 BC). Amarna was planned as a ‘new town’ by Akhenaten
and abandoned soon after his death. Consequently, the site
offers a rare and significant snapshot of urban Egyptian life
and industry at that time. Archaeology is the study of material
culture, and very few materials – whether glass or gold – escape
our attention. But what about the archaeology of modern
materials such as plastic, rubb