In the autumn of 1977, visitors arriving in Ames, Iowa, encountered something they would never have expected to see in the American Midwest: a massive iceberg sitting inside a refrigerated room at Iowa State University. It had travelled thousands of kilometres from Alaska by helicopter, aircraft and truck, not as a scientific curiosity but as…

Visitors to a hillside near Vicenza in northern Italy spent nearly a decade believing they were exploring the remains of a forgotten Roman amphitheatre. Guided by dramatic tales of ancient emperors, gladiators and even visits by Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, they willingly paid €40 for tours of what appeared to be an extraordinary archaeological discovery….