“This is the window through which feces are going to get out” reads the Hebrew inscription on what experts believe may be the oldest Jewish toilet ever found. The inscription was discovered on a stone lintel of a 13th century house near the city's medieval synagogue.

St Fagans: National History Museum near Cardiff, Wales is richer now with the addition of a 16th century Tudor building, meticulously rebuilt, and now open to the public. The trader's house was originally used for the storage of goods for sale in the busy port town.

Archaeologists working on the oldest standing building in the Channel Islands, a small Roman fort, are pondering the possible decision to turn the building into a visitor center.

Once the grand homes of Italian nobles in the Renaissance, the villas of northern Italy still hold hints of their grandeur. Photographer Thomas Jorion documented these lost treasures in a gallery show entitled Forgotten Palaces. (photos)

The patrons of the Stockwell Arms, in Colchester, England, probably never dreamed that they were having a pint atop the remains of a 1st century Roman road. The road was revealed recently after reconstruction of the pub.

Long to own a real piece of English history? The Kirklees Estate, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, purported burial place of Robin Hood, is for sale for something over UK£7 million. The site includes several farmhouses, 750 acres of farmland and woods, and a medieval Cistercian priory.

Wolsey's Gate, a Tudor tower built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in Ipswich, England, was the subject of vandalism recently when the 16th century brickwork was covered by graffiti.

Archaeologists from Museum of London Archaeology report that they have discovered the remains of a playhouse where Willianm Shakespeare staged some of his earliest plays. The Curtain Theatre north of the river Thames in Shoreditch pre-dated the Globe.

Workmen renovating a medieval house in St Katherine’s, England, have enlisted the help of a former mayor to translate the ancient text discovered on the ceiling. The writing is believed to be Latin.

Paolo and Gabriella Mazza of Florence, Italy combined a work project with a new home when they purchased La Camerata, as the 3,444-square-foot (320 square meters) theater, believed to have been designed by Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi. (slideshow)

Most tourists of Roman sites rave about the beauty of Rome or Hadrian's Wall, but most ignore Roman Morocco. In an article for The Star Online, Paul Schemm looks at several Roman sites in Morocco.

Israeli archeologists believe they may have discovered the site of a 6th century Byzantine church and stone quarry mentioned in a text by historian Procopius of Caesarea.

Restoration is complete for Lorenzo Ghiberti's masterpiece, the bronze and gilt doors that he created for the Florence Baptistry in 1452. Michaelangelo called them the Gates of Paradise.

The central section of Hadrian's Wall in northern England has been listed on the Heritage at Risk register for some time, but now a grant of UK£500,000 from the SITA Trust will allow Hadrian's Wall Heritage to repair and preserve the important historical site.

If you believe the press, most important Roman activity took place in either Italy or Britain, but archaeologists and historians know a different story, as evidenced by the treasures of the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne, Germany. Deutsche Welle has a review. (photos)

Fighting following a military junta in northern Mali is threatening the historic architectural and cultural center of Timbuktu, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. The city's 60 private libraries are a repository for over 700,000 ancient Islamic manuscripts.

The PBS NOVA series has posted a website featuring short video clips on various aspects of Viking village life. The site focusses on "Birka, a medieval Viking village that archeologists recently excavated near modern-day Stockholm."

A team of researchers and historians have begun a decades-long project to build a Carolingian monastery town near Messkirch, Germany using only techniques and materials from the 9th century. (photos)

A study of patterned bricks shows that not all English buildings were of one color. Exteriors and interiors used limewashes as well as different colors of bricks (or even glazed bricks!) to enliven the surface.

A destructive sea storm early in 2012 in Burgas, Bulgaria, on the Black Sea, caused damaged to the waterfront, but also unearthed a previously unknown Roman city. Archaeologists will seek funding for further investigation.

English Heritage has purchased Harmondsworth Barn, the "Cathedral of Middlesex," for UK£20,000. The barn, originally used for storing grain, "resembles the nave of a large church." It was built in 1426. (photo)

Experts working on a project to date Wales' oldest buildings by studying tree rings believe they may have found the country's oldest house. A cow shed in Llanrwst, Conwy has timbers dating to before 1402, the date of the previous oldest house. (photo)

The Národní třída metro station in the center of Prague, Czech Republic, is the site of an archaeological dig that has so far revealed evidence of townhouses dating back to the 12th century. (photos)

A rare set of frescoes depicting secular themes have been found in a house in Slovenia. The frescoes depict men and women wearing the latest fashions.

For sale: One "complete and original medieval village" near Florence, Italy with "30 dwellings, many of which are overgrown by thick vegetation." Asking price? A mere EUROS 3,500,000. (photos)

Visitors to London may be interested in the Secret City Tour, a walking tour of London's Roman past, including the remains of the Roman fort and Roman city wall, built around 200 CE.

A farm in Itter Crescent, outside Peterborough, England, has held a secret for nearly 2,000 years, a secret revealed by the recent discovery of "a substantial, two-floor courtyard limestone Roman villa with rooms floored with mosaic on the sides of a cobbled courtyard," on the site.

Archaeologists are puzzled about the discovery of a winged-shaped building which appears to be unique in the Roman Empire in Norfolk, England. The 3rd century structure can be seen in aerial photographs. (photo)

A building being used as a cow shed in Wales may date to the 1300s, making it the oldest domestic building in Wales. The date is being determined by studying the tree rings in the roof rafters.

Victorian excavations at the site of the Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire, England led to some surprises, including a 35m (115ft) long Roman mosaic floor, "one of the longest in-situ corridor mosaics in the country." Soon the mosaic will be displayed for the public. (photo)