Spectrum History - Myth of Rome

Dear readers! Allegedly, before the Corona pandemic, several million people visited the Roman Forum each year. It's hard to imagine that in a place where such tourist crowds flow, anything remains undiscovered. Yet, at the beginning of 2020, the cultural authority of Rome announced that they had found an underground chamber with a sarcophagus and altar at the Forum. It is nothing less than the "Tomb of Romulus" from the 6th century B.C. It is unlikely that a king by that name ever lived. However, the Romans of antiquity probably had little doubt about his existence. The "Tomb of Romulus" illustrates how much fact and fiction overlap when it comes to the early history of Rome. Therefore, experts are trying to unravel myth and archaeological evidence. Science journalist Sebastian Hollstein, who is also a classical archaeologist, describes how this is achieved starting on page 12 in our cover story "Myth of Rome." Our author Roland Knauer traveled to Canada and visited the World Heritage sites Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and Writing-on-Stone in the province of Alberta. Starting on page 70, he reports what these sites reveal about the former way of life of the Blackfoot people. Thousands of years ago, this indigenous group developed a special hunting method: they drove buffalo over a cliff. Wishing you an enlightening read, Karin Schlott, editor of Spektrum der Wissenschaft.